Talk:Community Wishlist/Wishes/Better visual table editing

This page is for discussions related to the Community Wishlist/Wishes/Better visual table editing page.   Please remember to: Sign posts using the four tildes (~~~~) Remain civil and polite during discussions. Place new text under old text (start a new post).

more info?

Hey @Closed Limelike Curves thanks for sharing this wish. I could see how more visual table editing could help, but am curious if you could provide a few examples of how changing the color or size of a table could impact your editing experience. Are there particular tables you'd like to have more control over? JWheeler-WMF (talk) 18:52, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

Template:Voting criteria table would be an example of a place where I'd like the option to edit a table's cell colors in the visual editor, so I can add columns or rows easily. – Closed Limelike Curves (talk) 20:10, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

VisualEditor typically isn't used on templates because they can contain complex wikitext that is hard to convey visually. In this example, the table in its entirety is not editable in VE because the table is built using a series of other templates.

Not being able to set a colour, among other formatting options, is still an issue however. w:List of FC Barcelona seasons#La Liga era is perhaps a better example. Using VE, you'll notice you can't adjust the background colours.

When editing a table, you'll see a floating "Table [ Delete | Properties ]" widget beneath the table. When specific cells of a table are selected, I envision a similar floating widget just beneath the cell with a "Properties" button. That could open a dialog that lets you set the colour, perhaps among other things. MusikAnimal (WMF) (talk) 19:09, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Ability to copy columns and rows

This should already be possible. Just select the row or column by holding ⇧ Shift and click-and-drag, then copy with Ctrl+C. Then insert a new column or row and use Ctrl+V to paste it.

One thing that might make this easier is for the column/row context menus to have a button to select all in that column or row. I.e. clicking on ">" next to a row, the menu could be a "Select row" button.

Copy and paste could have buttons too, but I assume the Editing team didn't add these because the browser and operating system itself has copy and paste functions. I like to use keystrokes, but right-click and selecting "Copy" would accomplish the same. MusikAnimal (WMF) (talk) 19:01, 25 February 2025 (UTC)