---
title: "DITA: Tables"
date: 2014-12-27
description: "{% include notes.html %}  To insert a table, either click the Table button in the Author view and select your options, or in the Text view, type..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/tables/
---
# DITA: Tables
> You can insert two kinds of tables in dita: a simple table and a more formal cals table. However, there doesn't seem much point to using the simple table, as it's not really much simpler. The cals table gives you more options and seems to use more straightforward tagging.

To insert a table, either click the Table button in the Author view and select your options, or in the Text view, type **t**, wait for the "table" prompt, and then press **Enter**. In the cols="" field, type the number of columns you want. Put your cursor right after `tgroup` element and type `<` and select **thead** at the prompt, then press **Enter**.

The table code looks like this:

The title ends up being set as the caption on the top of the table. You can actually set the column widths using the table properties. Switch to the Author mode to view your table. Grab the middle column divider and drag it a bit. You'll be prompted whether you want proportional or fixed columns. Choose proportional, since it will render better on different devices. Now drag the middle column divider to the width appropriate for your content.