Re: export a org table to ascii format (tabs) are not conserved, culprit orgtbl-to-tsv?

[Samuel Wales]

some web ui support some subset of html.  i think blogger does.  then
you might have a div.  which i think [not sure] might enforce line
breaks and also be monospace, or something like that.  [pardon my html
ignorance.]

On 5/30/22, Tim Cross <theophilusx@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I wanted to export a 4x4 table to ascii to insert it into a web fill in
>> interface. However the column get distorted. I tried to tabify or
>> untabify the buffer but it did not help.
>>
>>
>> The problem also occurs when I export the table using the
>> orgtbl-to-tsv
>>
>> #+begin_example
>> | Course                       |           L |           M |           X |
>>           J |           V |
>> |------------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
>> | Statistics                   | 10:30-11:30 |             | 10:00-11:20 |
>>             | 10:30-11:30 |
>> | Differential Equations       | 12:30-13:30 |             | 13:00-14:15 |
>>             | 12:30-13:30 |
>> | Master                       | 14:30-15:30 |             | 15:30-16:30 |
>> 14:30-15:30 |             |
>> | Numerical Analysis :00-19:00 | 18:00-19:00 | 18:00-19:00 | 18:00-19:00 |
>>             |         7.5 |
>> |                              |             |             |             |
>> 19:00-20:00 |             |
>> |------------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
>> |                              |             |             |             |
>>             |             |
>>
>> #+end_example
>>
>>
>> Converted to
>>
>> #+begin_example
>> Course       L       M       X       J       V
>> Statistics   10:30-11:30             10:00-11:20             10:30-11:30
>> Differential Equations       12:30-13:30             13:00-14:15             
>> 12:30-13:30
>> Master       14:30-15:30             15:30-16:30     14:30-15:30     
>> Numerical Analysis   18:00-19:00     18:00-19:00     18:00-19:00     
>> 18:00-19:00     
>>                              19:00-20:00     
>> #+end_example
>>
>>
>> Any idea what is wrong here?
>>
>>
>
> I think you might be working under a false expectation. A quick look at
> the exported table example and it looks to be correct to me - values are
> tab separated, with is what a tsv format is. There is no requirement
> that the columns should be aligned, only that they are separated by
> tabs.
>
> With regards to more formatted output options, a common issue is with
> respect to the fonts people use. If the font being used to view th
> eoutput is a proportional font rather than a fixed width one, then all
> formatting will be broken. Most web interfaces tend to use proportional
> fonts due to their more pleasing look for most people. This is also why
> tables sent via email often don't look right for the recipient - they
> are using a proportional or condensed font.
>
> As you have no control over the fonts used by those viewing your ASCII
> content, you cannot reliably make it look well formatted. Either you
> have to do HTML, some form of markdown or some other format with
> enforces tgable alignment.
>
> If your entering data into a web UI, I would not have any expectations
> regarding the final formatting as that will depend heavily on what the
> backend does to the supplied input and how the data is presented to
> anyone looking at that output.
>
>


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