RFC 1942 (rfc1942) - Page 1 of 30
HTML Tables
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group D. Raggett
Request for Comments: 1942 W3C
Category: Experimental May 1996
HTML Tables
Status of this Memo
This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any
kind. Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
The HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a simple markup language used
to create hypertext documents that are portable from one platform to
another. HTML documents are SGML documents with generic semantics
that are appropriate for representing information from a wide range
of applications. This specification extends HTML to support a wide
variety of tables. The model is designed to work well with associated
style sheets, but does not require them. It also supports rendering
to braille, or speech, and exchange of tabular data with databases
and spreadsheets. The HTML table model embodies certain aspects of
the CALS table model, e.g. the ability to group table rows into
thead, tbody and tfoot sections, plus the ability to specify cell
alignment compactly for sets of cells according to the context.
Table of Contents
Recent Changes ................................................. 1
Brief Introduction ............................................. 2
Design Rationale ............................................... 5
Walkthrough of the Table DTD ................................... 8
Recommended Layout Algorithms ................................. 23
HTML Table DTD ................................................ 26
References .................................................... 29
Security Considerations ....................................... 30
Author's Address .............................................. 30
Recent Changes
This specification extends HTML to support tables. The table model
has grown out of early work on HTML+ and the initial draft of HTML3.
The earlier model has been been extended in response to requests from
information providers for improved control over the presentation of
tabular information:
Raggett Experimental