Formatting tables - the not so quick way

[mahrundl]

For many of you, this is probably unnecessary, but there was interest from a number of people a while back.

To get a table that looks like this (example data is from TKD's 'The New ( and hopefully improved ) Armor Table' thread):

Armour

Name	STR*	DEX*	HT*	MHT*	B  /  S  / P*	Weight	Cost
Articulated Plate	12	+1	18	18	18 / 18 / 18	1000	Special
Plate	11	+1	14	14	14 / 14 / 14	1100	500
Field Plate	10	+1	13	10	13 / 13 / 11	1000	450
Plate & Mail	14	+1	13	10	12 / 13 / 10	1500	350
Bronze Plate	14	+2	12	10	12 / 10 / 10	1300	300
Brigandine	10	+0	12	09	10 / 12 / 09	900	250
Splint Mail	11	+2	11	08	10 / 11 / 08	1000	200
Chain Mail	12	+0	11	07	08 / 11 / 07	1200	300
Japanese Lamellar	08	+0	10	10	07 / 10 / 10	800	500
Lamellar	06	+0	10	09	09 / 10 / 09	900	400
Scale Mail	07	+0	08	07	07 / 08 / 07	750	80
Ring Joined Plate	04	+0	07	04	05 / 07 / 05	300	100
Greek Hoplite	10	+0	08	06	08 / 08 / 08	800	250
Cuirbolli Leather	05	+0	06	04	06 / 06 / 05	200	60
Linothorax	05	+0	05	05	05 / 05 / 05	150	55
Studded Leather	05	+0	05	03	04 / 05 / 03	120	50
Reinforced Cloth	04	+0	04	02	04 / 04 / 02	115	40
Layered Hide	08	+1	05	02	05 / 04 / 02	300	35
Wooden	08	+1	04	02	04 / 04 / 02	200	40
Bamboo	02	+1	04	01	03 / 04 / 01	200	30
Quilted Cotton	03	+0	03	01	03 / 03 / 02	150	35
Quilted Silk	02	+0	03	04	03 / 03 / 03	100	100
Soft Leather	03	+0	03	01	02 / 03 / 01	60	30
Paper	06	+1	03	05*	02 / 03 / 03	150	30

you need to use the following:

[b]Armour[/b]
[table]
[tr][td][b]Name[/b][/td][td][b]STR*[/b][/td][td][b]DEX*[/b][/td][td][b]HT*[/b][/td][td][b]MHT*[/b][/td][td][b] B  /  S  / P*[/b][/td][td][b]Weight[/b][/td][td][b]Cost[/b][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Articulated Plate[/td][td]12[/td][td]+1[/td][td]18[/td][td]18[/td][td]18 / 18 / 18[/td][td]1000[/td][td]Special[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Plate[/td][td]11[/td][td]+1[/td][td]14[/td][td]14[/td][td]14 / 14 / 14[/td][td]1100[/td][td]500[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Field Plate[/td][td]10[/td][td]+1[/td][td]13[/td][td]10[/td][td]13 / 13 / 11[/td][td]1000[/td][td]450[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Plate & Mail[/td][td]14[/td][td]+1[/td][td]13[/td][td]10[/td][td]12 / 13 / 10[/td][td]1500[/td][td]350[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Bronze Plate[/td][td]14[/td][td]+2[/td][td]12[/td][td]10[/td][td]12 / 10 / 10[/td][td]1300[/td][td]300[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Brigandine[/td][td]10[/td][td]+0[/td][td]12[/td][td]09[/td][td]10 / 12 / 09[/td][td]900 [/td][td]250[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Splint Mail[/td][td]11[/td][td]+2[/td][td]11[/td][td]08[/td][td]10 / 11 / 08[/td][td]1000[/td][td]200[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Chain Mail[/td][td]12[/td][td]+0[/td][td]11[/td][td]07[/td][td]08 / 11 / 07[/td][td]1200[/td][td]300[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Japanese Lamellar[/td][td]08[/td][td]+0[/td][td]10[/td][td]10[/td][td]07 / 10 / 10[/td][td]800[/td][td]500[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Lamellar[/td][td]06[/td][td]+0[/td][td]10[/td][td]09[/td][td]09 / 10 / 09[/td][td]900[/td][td]400[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Scale Mail[/td][td]07[/td][td]+0[/td][td]08[/td][td]07[/td][td]07 / 08 / 07[/td][td]750[/td][td]80[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ring Joined Plate[/td][td]04[/td][td]+0[/td][td]07[/td][td]04[/td][td]05 / 07 / 05[/td][td]300[/td][td]100[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Greek Hoplite[/td][td]10[/td][td]+0[/td][td]08[/td][td]06[/td][td]08 / 08 / 08[/td][td]800[/td][td]250[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Cuirbolli Leather[/td][td]05[/td][td]+0[/td][td]06[/td][td]04[/td][td]06 / 06 / 05[/td][td]200[/td][td]60[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Linothorax[/td][td]05[/td][td]+0[/td][td]05[/td][td]05[/td][td]05 / 05 / 05[/td][td]150[/td][td]55[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Studded Leather[/td][td]05[/td][td]+0[/td][td]05[/td][td]03[/td][td]04 / 05 / 03[/td][td]120[/td][td]50[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Reinforced Cloth[/td][td]04[/td][td]+0[/td][td]04[/td][td]02[/td][td]04 / 04 / 02[/td][td]115[/td][td]40[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Layered Hide[/td][td]08[/td][td]+1[/td][td]05[/td][td]02[/td][td]05 / 04 / 02[/td][td]300[/td][td]35[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Wooden[/td][td]08[/td][td]+1[/td][td]04[/td][td]02[/td][td]04 / 04 / 02[/td][td]200[/td][td]40[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Bamboo[/td][td]02[/td][td]+1[/td][td]04[/td][td]01[/td][td]03 / 04 / 01[/td][td]200[/td][td]30[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Quilted Cotton[/td][td]03[/td][td]+0[/td][td]03[/td][td]01[/td][td]03 / 03 / 02[/td][td]150[/td][td]35[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Quilted Silk[/td][td]02[/td][td]+0[/td][td]03[/td][td]04[/td][td]03 / 03 / 03[/td][td]100[/td][td]100[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Soft Leather[/td][td]03[/td][td]+0[/td][td]03[/td][td]01[/td][td]02 / 03 / 01[/td][td]60[/td][td]30[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Paper[/td][td]06[/td][td]+1[/td][td]03[/td][td]05*[/td][td]02 / 03 / 03[/td][td]150[/td][td]30[/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/size][/tt]

Notes:

• Values in square brackets are tags, and are as follows:
  
  • [table] = table start
    
  • [tr] = table row start
    
  • [td] = table data start
    
  • [/table] = table end
    
  • [/tr] = table row end
    
  • [/td] = table data end
    
  
  
• Every start tag requires a matching end tag. Don't have a space between the / and the end tag value. You have to use [/table] rather than [/ table].
  
• End tags are added in reverse order to the start tags. For example, use [tr][td]Scale Mail

[/td][/tr], not [tr][td]Scale Mail[/tr][/td].
[/li][li]You need to a [table] tag before you can use [tr] or [td] tags. Likewise, you need a [tr] tag before you can use [td] tags.
[/li][li]The header entry B  /  S  /  P* uses non-breaking spaces to spread it out. If I used normal spaces, it would look like this: B / S / P*. Multiple consecutive normal spaces get collapsed to a single space. A more extreme example, using 6 spaces, to show what I mean:

• B      /      S      /      P*
  
• B / S / P*
  

[/li][li]Non-breaking spaces are added by entering & nbsp; (without the space after the &).
[/li][li]You can use the other tags provided - bold, italics, colours, etc. - inside a table as well.
[/li][/ul]

I hope this is helpful (and that I haven't made too many blunders). Sorry it took me so long to get around to it...

[unclecranky]

Thank you, Mahrundl. Have an Exalt on me.