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attach a jpeg for table, but image file is big. Or your could have a text block containing csv format, parse it in your head or paste the csv block to some external program. Latex table is more feature rich but much more complex. Is there a simple CLI program that would render csv text block? installing libreoffice just for parsing csv feels like a massive over kill.
Jun 18 · 2 months ago
something like this:
'''
test table,c1,c2,c3.c4
r1,1,2,3,4
r2,5,6,7,8
'''
of course, gemini client could opt to render the block. I mean lagrange already have the option to auto load image links in on gemini page.
I think the problem there is it isn’t human readable in any sense.
It’s like designing expecting image links to be expanded: doing that breaks the idea of a unified spec.
It’s like when Internet Explorer started adding crap to HTML that nothing else supported, leading to browser wars and sites designed to only work in a specific browser.
Ultimately, the only way to do it will be with preformatted blocks.
Best option may be a gemini project where you upload a CSV over titan (or use it as a CLI app) and it spits out preformatted text using Unicode to draw the tables.
good point, csv to preformatted conversion is easy to do, the conversion could be done in an editor. viewport size isn't a problem in gemini, so we can do away with client side rendering/padding. 80 char wide table is enough for many tasks.
☕️ tenno-seremel · Jun 18 at 06:55:
I think it would really help with the content organization in the space of the screen.
Tables for layout, yay! (nay) Users of smaller screens will be thrown under a bus the very moment it becomes a thing 😅
we already know that there is no consensus on table formats. How about just linking the csv/tsv file and let the browser figure out what to do, just like some gemini browsers already do for images and audio files. I think most browsers could probably implement unescaped TSV formatting
🕹️ skyjake [mod...] · Jun 18 at 12:46:
Having implemented a table layout routine or two in the past, it is way too complex for your average gemtext parser/renderer. As @vi points out, tables have a lot of nuance to them. In addition to merged cells, you'd probably want to control which cells are headings and maybe adjust the widths manually to make the layout more natural... It's a great deal of effort and the bang for the buck isn't really there.
I recommend either using preformatted tables like [1] and/or linking to some other table format (GitHub Markdown isn't too bad, for example [2]), and not worrying about the client presentation too much.
— [1]: Gemini Spacecraft On-Board Computer (OBC)
— [2]: GitHub Docs: Organizing information with tables
😺 Houjimmy [OP] · Jun 19 at 15:41:
Ok. But so let's start it simple: Using a library like "tabulate" within the preformated syntax ``` between a specific identifier would still present a very decent and easy tabulation, github-styled, at least for presenting text.
FWIW, I wrote something last year on *why* trying to implement a custom table format is so hard.
gemini://gemi.dev/gemlog/2023-06-30-tables-in-gemtext.gmi
TLDR: Just put pre-rendered tables in a pre section. Figuring out how to render a table is hard. You can't start rendering it until you know how wide the table columns need to be. This requires you to read multiple lines of a gemtext document before rendering and use state, which is crazy complex and contradicts gemtext's line-oriented design principle. And wrapping lines is complicated. You are basically speed running all the challenges and mistakes HTML tables made over the years. Don't do that.
Gemtext tables & etc — I have a question: Is it an heresy to consider that the gemtext protocol would be incredibly better (like, a GIANT LEAP) with the inclusion of tables like in html2 (just the tables, i'm not mentioning anything else)? I think it would really help with the content organization in the space of the screen. The developers had said much about gemini like an evolution of gopher, and it really is at protocol level but I really can`t say much about the gemtext standart, it's...