If you are looking to create tables for your posts and pages, then you have come to the right place. Since here I will show you all the possible ways that how to add a table in WordPress.
Tables are generally a good idea to showcase data in a simple way to make it easier for visitors to comprehend what you are saying.
These tools, such as tables and graphs, are visually appealing and present the data in an organized and direct way.
They can be used to display different data structures such as, for example, the pricing information for a service that you offer, lists of partners or even people working for you, or you can even create standings of your fantasy league teams.
The options are almost infinite, and you can do a lot more with tables than what I said above. You just need the creativity. Tables are really important for your website because they increase the user experience or UX.
You should care about this since it’s the user’s perception of the site and practicality. Additionally, this determines if the visitors are going to come back or click a link from your domain. WordPress has made it even easier to add tables to your website now since before, the only way you could have done that was through plugins.
This is beneficial to new and inexperienced users since it’s way simpler now. Don’t worry, these options that I will show you are not going to include coding. There are also plugins that do this job way easier for you, and I will cover all of them.
How to Create a Table in WordPress?
Learning how to create a table nowadays is an important skill and not that hard to do since WordPress has made several changes lately. They have improved the User Experience and made it more accessible for everyone to create a table. Let’s look at what’s different and how you can create a table using WordPress.
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Creating Tables Using the WordPress Block Editor
If you are using the default block editor that WordPress has then you will find that there is a simple and quick method of adding a table. This is one of the changes that has happened with the platform and even though it has received mixed responses by the community, I personally think it’s a great development.
Well first you need to be logged in to your WordPress account, then create a new post or page, you can even edit a previous article. When you are in the editor you will see a ‘+’ symbol to add a new block, as shown in the picture below.
From there you will need to search ‘Table’ and click on the icon that shows up after the search result. If you have installed other plugins that offer a table, you will see them populate the results as you will see in the next picture.
You should click on the icon that only has ‘Table’ written under it since that’s the default table builder from WordPress. Once you do that a new section will appear below and it will ask you about how many columns and rows you want to add to your table.
The default is two for each but don’t worry since you can insert or delete them later. On the right side you will see some other options such as the table styles and the advanced section. From the styles you can select the default option or stripes to display the information on your table.
If you are not an experienced user then I don’t recommend you open the Advanced section. Because there you can find options such as the HTML anchor or Additional CSS classes. Once you are done with editing your table you need to press the ‘Create Table’ button.I went with the default values and below you will see how my table turned out.One of the best things about creating a table in this way is that it’s fully responsive and you don’t need to worry about anything. You should start typing out in the cells just by clicking on them and they will update and resize accordingly.
However, if you want your cells to be a fixed size you will see that option on the right side and you can set it to your preferences.
You can do various things with your table and not only set the size of cells. For example, you can choose to have header sections & footer section, you will see that option on the right side and you can set it to your preferences.
These options help you design and showcase the information or data that you want in a precise way and closer to what you might have imagined. After you make some changes on the table you will see a new tab appear called, ‘Color’.
As you might have already guessed there’s where you can change the background color of the table. I tried to make the table light green as you will see in the picture below.
As I said earlier you have the means to add more rows and columns in a table even after it has been created. If you decide to do that then it’s really simple; just click on the cell next to the place you want to add the row or column, and next click the ‘Edit Table’ button as shown below.When you click that button you will see a number of options available to you which will help you edit the table. You can insert rows in the exact place you want them or insert a column before or after your selected cell and even delete them as per your needs.
In my table that I used to show you as an example I added a new column in the middle section. Let’s see how that turned out in the picture below.
As you can see the change has been made to the table; only took two clicks and it was done. That’s why when creating the table I told you not to worry about finding the correct size and number of columns and rows.
You might have noticed that the text alignment in the table is not the same for the header section and other cells. Well if you want a matching look or just want to change the alignment of the text, the process is pretty quick.
Your tables by default come with left side text alignment. However, you can change this by clicking in a column and press the ‘Change Column Alignment’ button as shown below.
Keep in mind that if you want all the columns to change their text alignment then you should repeat this process for all of them. I decided to go with my middle column to have a center text alignment and this is how the table looks now.
You can clearly see that the middle section of the table now has a center alignment of the text. Leaving the table in the default setting as it is right now there are a lot of empty spaces and this can look bad on your website so make sure that you do a preview first before publishing.
To fix potential issues that you might have with your website you can change the alignment of the table. Press on any cell that is on your table and click the ‘Change Alignment’ button as shown below.As you can see currently the option ‘Wide width’ is selected and that’s the default one that WordPress uses for tables. You will need to edit and change the alignment so that the table looks better on your site.
For example, if you were having problems with the table being too wide but you still want it to be centered then the best option for you is to select the ‘Align center’. This will, as the name suggests, align your table in the center and make it smaller so that there is not as much empty space between and inside cells.
Here’s how my table looks like with that option checked in contrast to the default one.You have to keep in mind that some of these options might even break the limit on your post page. So take extra precaution when editing these. Moreover, always scrutinize how it looks on your post before pushing the content.
This is the best way that you can create a simple and quick table to add to your post. Also if you need to show data and information in an easy and comprehensible format, tables are your best friend.
I’ve shown you pretty much all there is to editing them and changing some basic functions, perfect for beginners. If you are looking to create a table that is way more advanced and has a lot more functions and things to offer then I suggest you continue reading the next part of this article.
Here, I will explain how to create a table in WordPress using plugins.
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Creating Tables in WordPress using Plugins
WordPress has one of the most amazing and competitive marketplaces for developers to publish their addons called plugins. That’s why you can always find a plugin for whatever function that you might need on your website.
If you want to create a custom table for your content, then there are a lot of plugins from which you can choose from. Any and all of them will do a great job in making a table. For this example, I will use the TablePress plugin which I know has worked well in the past and is very reliable.
You will need to find it in the marketplace first by searching TablePress, then Install and Activate it. This plugin is completely free and it’s a great option out of all that are out there. Also, this is a necessity if you are not using the Gutenberg block editor for your WordPress website. Since there’s no other way of creating a table.
With TablePress you can create, edit and manage your tables and do a lot of customization. So that you match the style of your website. After you are done with the installation, you will see a new tab called ‘TablePress’ on the sidebar of your Dashboard. Click it to go to the plugin’s main screen.
To create a new table select the ‘Add New’ tab, and when the page loads you will see a form that you need to fill out with the table’s name, description and number of rows and columns. Here, you can also add and remove rows or columns if you want later, after the table is created.
When you are done with choosing them you need to press the ‘Add Table’ button as shown in the picture.
After you press that button you will see a new screen that will show you the table information. You will be able to add content to the specific areas on the table as shown in the picture below.
You can insert the data in the table content section. Moreover, there are a lot of different changes you can make so take your time & look at them more on your own. There are a lot of other sections that help you customize as well.
There are Table Manipulation, Table Options, Features of the DataTables, JavaScript Library etc. You will find everything you need to make it as perfect as you want.
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Closing Thoughts
Tables are often overlook by content creators. However, you should know that they are more powerful than you can imagine. The ability to display a lot of information in a visual way will greatly increase user satisfaction. When visiting your article and that’s a great thing to have. Whenever possible I suggest you learn how to add a table in WordPress because this knowledge will only benefit you
