Challenge 9: Formatting Nice Tables

For this Challenge you will explore how to generate nice looking tables for HTML documents, by applying the skills to your tables from Lab 8 and Lab 9.

There are many packages for generating tables, but I prefer the kable() function from the knitr package for simple tables and the gt() function from the DT package for more sophisticated tables.

I would recommend you think of tables no different from the visualizations you’ve been making. We want all aspects of our tables to be clear to the reader, so the comparisons we want them to make are straightforward. Tables are also a great avenue to display creativity! In fact, there is a yearly RStudio table contest, and here is a gallery of the award winning tables!

For simple tables

the kable() function from the knitr package for simple tables
the gt() function from the gt package

For more sophisticated tables

styling functions from the kableExtra package (e.g., kable_styling(), kable_classic())
add-on functions from the gt package (e.g., cols_label(), tab_header(), fmt_percent())

For interactive tables

the datatable() function from the DT package

1 Part 1 – Formatting Basic Tables

Use the kable() function from the kable package to create nice, basic HTML tables for every table in Lab 8.

Warning

Similar to axis labels in visualizations, every column name in a table should describe what it contains. For example, a column of n is less explanatory than Frequency of Babies.

2 Part 2 - Formatting Nicer Tables

Spice up at least one of your tables from Lab 9 using functions from the gt package.

Some ideas on how to “spice up” a table:

change the font and / or font size
add a title / subtitle to the table
add striping and / or cell borders to the table
create custom formatting of columns

Tip

Luckily, the gt package has an easy function for changing proportions to percentages (fmt_percent()) that you might want to use for your table from Question 2.

--- title: "Challenge 9: Formatting Nice Tables" format: html: self-contained: true code-tools: true toc: true number-sections: true editor: source execute: error: true echo: true message: false warning: false --- For this Challenge you will explore how to generate nice looking tables for HTML documents, by applying the skills to your tables from Lab 8 and Lab 9. ```{r} #| include: false #| label: setup library(tidyverse) ``` There are many packages for generating tables, but I prefer the `kable()` function from the **knitr** package for *simple* tables and the `gt()` function from the **DT** package for *more sophisticated* tables. I would recommend you think of tables no different from the visualizations you've been making. We want **all** aspects of our tables to be clear to the reader, so the comparisons we want them to make are straightforward. Tables are also a great avenue to display creativity! In fact, there is a yearly [RStudio table contest](https://www.rstudio.com/blog/rstudio-table-contest-2022/), and [here](https://community.rstudio.com/c/table-gallery/64) is a gallery of the award winning tables! **For simple tables** - the `kable()` function from the **knitr** package for *simple* tables - the `gt()` function from the **gt** package **For more sophisticated tables** - styling functions from the **kableExtra** package (e.g., `kable_styling()`, `kable_classic()`) - add-on functions from the **gt** package (e.g., `cols_label()`, `tab_header()`, `fmt_percent()`) **For interactive tables** - the `datatable()` function from the **DT** package ## Part 1 -- Formatting Basic Tables Use the `kable()` function from the [kable package](https://bookdown.org/yihui/rmarkdown-cookbook/kable.html) to create nice, basic HTML tables for [**every**]{.underline} table in **Lab 8**. ::: callout-warning Similar to axis labels in visualizations, **every** column name in a table should describe what it contains. For example, a column of `n` is less explanatory than `Frequency of Babies`. ::: ## Part 2 - Formatting Nicer Tables Spice up **at least one** of your tables from Lab 9 using functions from the [gt package](https://gt.rstudio.com/). Some ideas on how to "spice up" a table: - change the font and / or font size - add a title / subtitle to the table - add striping and / or cell borders to the table - create custom formatting of columns ::: {.callout-tip} Luckily, the gt package has an easy function for changing proportions to percentages (`fmt_percent()`) that you might want to use for your table from Question 2. :::