Re: Hierarchies with tabular data...

Ben Boyle wrote:
> It is about "nested row headers" - I think it is the same issue of how
> to represent a hierarchy within a table.

Yep.


Ben Boyle wrote:
> It is a common need [...]

How common is "common"?

On the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly all the tables in some areas 
present hierarchical relationships. But on ESPN, none of them do. They can 
be common and important on one site and yet be totally absent on another.

Ben Boyle wrote:
> [...] anything with money that includes totals (maybe even subtotals) and 
> individual items
> (e.g. receipt, invoice, budget)

I've found [money tables] which don't have heirarchical relationships, such 
as stock exchanges. Price comparison sites as well, but I haven't written 
notes yet.

I might agree that financial tables are one of the more likely areas where 
heirarchical relationships will be used. But you can find them in other 
areas, like [student population] and even one sneaked into an [otherwise 
flat] table by the FBI. So I wouldn't say "anything with money" will use 
heirarchical relationships.

[money tables] <http://sitesurgeon.co.uk/tables/readme.html#finance>
[student population] is an ASCII art table: 
<http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/gradpostdoc/94supp/sup19/txt/i2.htm>
[otherwise flat] 
<http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_02.html>

Ben Boyle wrote:
> [...] any stats.

I've found plenty of statistical tables which don't use heirarchical 
relationships. The sports stats on ESPN, for example.

Ben Boyle wrote:
> For example, a receipt with items and a total can be managed with tbody 
> (multiple tr for items) and tfoot for totals.

Any examples of that in the wild? In the tables I've seen, even expert 
authors don't use multiple <tbody>. [I do] but I'm unusual in that way...and 
others. :-)

[I do] <http://projectcerbera.com/tutorials/gtavc/paths/definition#tbody>

Ben Boyle wrote:
> But if the complexity goes up and you want to include
> subtotals as well (another level in the hierarchy) there's no clear
> HTML to define this (I use classes).

Do you have any links to sites which publish tables like that? Include 
tables you made but other places would be a bonus.

--
Ben 'Cerbera' Millard
Collections of Interesting Data Tables
<http://sitesurgeon.co.uk/tables/readme.html>

Received on Monday, 15 October 2007 01:45:11 UTC