Editing Table in LateX

Question

Below is a table I want it to appear it the top page of a two column page. But its not looking good so if anyone could please assist me.

\begin{table*}[t]
\centering\setlength{\tabcolsep}{.3\tabcolsep}
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{|*2{>{\centering\hsize=1.6666\hsize}X|}*8{>{\centering\arraybackslash\hsize=.83333\hsize}X|}}
\hline
{\bf Point of Comparison} & {\bf Microsoft Kinect} & {\bf Asus Xtion} \\
\hline
Hardware Compatibility & Stable work with various hardware models & Does not work with some USB controllers (especially USB 3.0) \\
\hline
View Adjustment & Has motor that can be controlled remotely by the application & No motor, allow only manual positioning \\
\hline
  Size & 12" x 3" x 2.5" & 7" x 2" x 1.5" \\
\hline
Weight &     3.0 lb &     0.5 lb \\
\hline
Power Supply & USB + ACDC power supply &        USB \\
\hline
Power Consumption & 12 watts & below 2.5 watts  \\
\hline
Distance of Use & between 0.8m and 4m in normal field of view
 & between 0.8m and 3.5m \\
~& between 0.4m and 3m in narrow field of view &~\\
\hline
Field of View & 57\degree horizontal, 43\degree vertical & 58\degree Horizontal, 45\degree Vertical \\
\hline
Vertical tilt range  &     $\pm$27\degree & Not applicable \\
\hline
Frame rate & 30 frames per second (FPS) & 30 frames per second (FPS) \\
\hline
Depth Image Size - Resolution  &  640 x 480 pixels &  640 x 480 pixels \\
\hline
OS Platform Support & Xbox 360 & Microsoft Windows
 \\
 & Microsoft Windows & Linux\\
&  Linux & MacOS\\
& MacOS & \\ 
\hline
Programming Language & C++/C\# (Windows)
 & C++/C\# (Windows) \\
& C++(Linux) & C++(Linux)\\
& JAVA & JAVA\\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
\caption{Comparison between Microsoft Kinect and Asus Xtion Specifications}
\label{tab:template}
\end{table*}

Please be a bit more specific about what you mean by the table "not looking good". Is it the column widths that are problematic? Are you dissatisfied with all columns getting their material centered rather than being typeset (fully) justified? Incidentally, how is the \degree macro defined? — Mico, Apr 09 '13 at 04:21
yes the columns width is not good, I don't know why the table seems not symmetric — Tak, Apr 09 '13 at 05:19
A quick note, unrelated to your question: The \it, \bf, etc. font macros are deprecated because they do not use the new font selection scheme introduced with LaTeX2e. Please use {\itshape ..}, {\bfseries ..} or \textit{..}, \textbf{..} instead. See Does it matter if I use \textit or \it, \bfseries or \bf, etc. and Will two-letter font style commands (\bf, \it, …) ever be resurrected in LaTeX? for more information. — Torbjørn T., Apr 09 '13 at 06:10

Mico · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-03T17:44:42.667

I don't really know much about how to organize the material in the body of the table. In terms of some of the table's overall layout, I suggest you not change the setting of \tabcolsep, not use any vertical lines, and not use \hline instructions in the body of the table; instead, simply insert a bit more horizontal whitespace between groups of rows. Do use the commands \toprule, \midrule, and \bottomrule of the booktabs package. Your example code defines a table with ten [10] columns, but you only seem to use three of them; when changing the widths of columns of type X, remember that the sum of the relative \hsizes should be equal to the number of columns. You might want to try relative column widths of 0.8, 1.1., and 1.1.

Something like the following, then, may be an intermediate point in the process:

enter image description here

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{tabularx,booktabs}
\newcommand\degree{${}^\circ$\,}
\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{table*}[t]
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{}>{\hsize=0.8\hsize}X *2{>{\hsize=1.1\hsize}X}@{}}
\toprule
\textbf{Point of Comparison} & \textbf{Microsoft Kinect} & \textbf{Asus Xtion} \\
\midrule
Hardware Compatibility & Stable work with various hardware models & Does not work with some USB controllers (especially USB 3.0) \\[0.7ex]
View Adjustment & Has motor that can be controlled remotely by the application & No motor, allow only manual positioning \\[0.7ex]
Size & 12" x 3" x 2.5" & 7" x 2" x 1.5" \\[0.7ex]
Weight &     3.0 lb &     0.5 lb \\[0.7ex]
Power Supply & USB + ACDC power supply &    USB \\[0.7ex]
Power Consumption & 12 watts & below 2.5 watts  \\[0.7ex]
Distance of Use & between 0.8m and 4m in normal field of view
 & between 0.8m and 3.5m \\
 & between 0.4m and 3m in narrow field of view \\[0.7ex]
Field of View & 57\degree horizontal, 43\degree vertical & 58\degree Horizontal, 45\degree Vertical \\[0.7ex]
Vertical tilt range  &     $\pm$27\degree & Not applicable \\[0.7ex]
Frame rate & 30 frames per second (FPS) & 30 frames per second (FPS) \\[0.7ex]
Depth Image Size - Resolution  &  640 x 480 pixels &  640 x 480 pixels \\[0.7ex]
OS Platform Support & Xbox 360 & Microsoft Windows \\
 & Microsoft Windows & Linux\\
 &  Linux & MacOS\\
 & MacOS & \\[0.7ex] 
Programming Language & C++/C\# (Windows)
 & C++/C\# (Windows) \\
 & C++(Linux) & C++(Linux)\\
 & JAVA & JAVA\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\caption{Comparison between Microsoft Kinect and Asus Xtion Specifications}
\label{tab:template}
\end{table*}
\end{document}

Addendum: As Barbara Beeton has pointed out in a comment, text typeset in narrow measures -- such as in the three narrow columns of this table -- generally looks better if it's set ragged-right rather than justified. This look may be achieved, in the present case, by (i) loading the ragged2e package, (ii) specifying a new column type called, say, Y, as follows:

\usepackage{booktabs,tabularx,ragged2e}
\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\RaggedRight\arraybackslash}X}

and (iii) specifying the three columns in the tabularx environment as being of type Y instead of type X. (You'll want to keep the \hsize instructions as well, of course.)

the cells with more than one line would look nicer ragged right. — barbara beeton, Apr 09 '13 at 12:44

Editing Table in LateX

1 Answers1