Background color for rows and columns of a table

Question

I have a problem with changing background of the table cells/rows.

This is the code I use:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[skip=0.333\baselineskip]{caption}
\usepackage{booktabs,tabularx,ragged2e}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

\begin{document}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.3}
\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\hsize=.7\hsize\RaggedRight\arraybackslash}X}
\newcolumntype{B}{X}

\begin{table}
\caption{Sources and targets}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{p{1cm}@{}*{4}{Y}@{}}
%% table header
\toprule
\rowcolor{lightgray}\multicolumn{2}{r@{}}{List targets} $\rightarrow$ & \multicolumn{3}{c@{}}{Targets} \\
\cmidrule(l){3-5}
\rowcolor{lightgray}\multicolumn{2}{l@{}}{\cellcolor{lightgray}$\downarrow$ Sources}  & Target 1 & Target 2 & Target 3 \\
\midrule
%% body of table
\multirow{3}{2cm}{\rotatebox{90}{\parbox{\linewidth}{sources}}} &\cellcolor{lightgray}Source 1 & Description 10 
         & Description 11 
         & Description 12 \\
\addlinespace % <-- use whitespace as a simple yet very effective divider
&\cellcolor{lightgray}Source 2 (additional info) 
         & Description 20 
         & Description 21
         & Description 22, \par
           Description 23, \par
           Description 24 \\
\addlinespace % ditto
&\cellcolor{lightgray}Source 3 & Description 30 
         & Description 31
         & Description 32, \par 
           Description 33, \par 
           Description 34 \\    
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}


\end{document}

And the result is this:

Can anyone help me to make it look better? Without this white space between cells, and also this vertical column (sources) should also have the same gray background.

dexteritas · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-24T13:40:41.433

Adaptations:

remove addlinespace, toprule, midrule and bottomrule to remove the whitespace (and use hline instead)
corrected heading: ...{List targets $\rightarrow$}
Select a background color for the entire column using \newcolumntype{a}{>{\columncolor{lightgray}}Y} (from How do I color table columns?)
For the first column with the multirow you have to write \multirow{-3}{...}{...} in the last line of the 3 lines, else the background gray will be over the text (see texblog: Coloring multi-row tables in LaTeX)

Code:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[skip=0.333\baselineskip]{caption}
\usepackage{booktabs,tabularx,ragged2e}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

\begin{document}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.3}
\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\hsize=.7\hsize\RaggedRight\arraybackslash}X}
%\newcolumntype{B}{X}
\newcolumntype{a}{>{\columncolor{lightgray}}Y}
\newcolumntype{C}[1]{>{\columncolor{lightgray}}p{#1}} % zentriert mit

\begin{table}
    \caption{Sources and targets}
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{C{5mm}@{}a*{3}{Y}@{}}
        %% table header
        \hline
        \rowcolor{lightgray}\multicolumn{2}{r@{}}{List targets $\rightarrow$} & \multicolumn{3}{c@{}}{Targets} \\
        \rowcolor{lightgray}\multicolumn{2}{l@{}}{$\downarrow$ Sources}  & Target 1 & Target 2 & Target 3 \\ \hline
        %% body of table
        & Source 1 & Description 10 
                 & Description 11 
                 & Description 12 \\
        &Source 2 (additional info) 
                 & Description 20 
                 & Description 21
                 & Description 22, \par
                   Description 23, \par
                   Description 24 \\
        \multirow{-3}{12mm}{\rotatebox{90}{\parbox{\linewidth}{sources}}} &Source 3 & Description 30 
                 & Description 31
                 & Description 32, \par 
                   Description 33, \par 
                   Description 34 \\ \hline
    \end{tabularx}
\end{table}

\end{document}

Result:

thank you very much, thats almost what I need... is is possible also to add the gray background to the left column "sources" ? — marko3d, Aug 14 '17 at 11:14
Now also the left column "sources" is gray (see last comment under adaptations). — dexteritas, Aug 14 '17 at 11:27

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 14 '17 at 12:12

i rather would consider how to design nice table and would redesign your table as follows:

mwe:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[skip=0.33\baselineskip]{caption}
\usepackage{ragged2e}
\usepackage{booktabs, multirow, tabularx}
\newcolumntype{L}{>{\RaggedRight}X}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
    \caption{Sources and targets}
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{*{4}{L} }
        \toprule
    \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{Targets} \\
    \cmidrule{2-4}
    sources     & Target 1
                & Target 2
                & Target 3          \\
        \midrule
    %      
    Source 1
                & Description 10
                & Description 11
                & Description 12    \\
        \addlinespace
    Source 2\par  (additional info)
                & Description 20
                & Description 21
                & Description 22,  \par
                  Description 23,  \par
                  Description 24   \\
        \addlinespace
     Source 3   & Description 30
                & Description 31
                & Description 32,   \par
                  Description 33,   \par
                  Description 34    \\
        \bottomrule
    \end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}

@dexteritas, thank you. duplicate deleted ... – Zarko Aug 14 '17 at 12:16 — Zarko, Aug 14 '17 at 12:16

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 14 '17 at 13:11

This is due to the vertical padding of booktabs rules. A solution consists in neutralising this padding and compensate it with an increase of \arraystretch. For the specific two \addlinespaces, I replace them with \\[\adddefaultspace]. Finally I replaced the \cmidrule with an \hhline, at the cost of a supplementary (empty) column.

Another point is you misundertood the aim and the syntax of >{\hsize=coeff\hsize} for X columns: the sum of the coefficients must be equal to the total number of columns. If you want to reduce the size of equal X columns, you simply reduce the total size of the table.

    \documentclass{article}

    \usepackage[skip=0.333\baselineskip]{caption}
    \usepackage{booktabs,tabularx,ragged2e}
    \usepackage{multirow}
    \usepackage{graphicx, hhline}
    \usepackage[table]{xcolor}

    \begin{document}
    \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.4}
    \newcolumntype{Y}{>{\RaggedRight\arraybackslash}X}%\hsize=.7\hsize
    \newcolumntype{B}{X}

    \begin{table}[!htb]
    \setlength{\aboverulesep}{0pt}
    \setlength{\belowrulesep}{0pt}
    \caption{Sources and targets}
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{p{1cm}@{}*{4}{Y}@{} >{}c}
    %% table header
    \cmidrule[\heavyrulewidth](r{-\tabcolsep}){1-5}
    \rowcolor{lightgray}\multicolumn{2}{r@{}}{List targets $\rightarrow$ }& \multicolumn{3}{c@{}}{Targets}& \\
   \hhline{>{\arrayrulecolor{lightgray}}-->{\arrayrulecolor{black}}--->{\arrayrulecolor{lightgray}}->{\arrayrulecolor{black}}}
    \rowcolor{lightgray}\multicolumn{2}{l@{}}{\cellcolor{lightgray}$\downarrow$ Sources} & Target 1 & Target 2 & Target 3 \\ \cmidrule[\lightrulewidth](r{-\tabcolsep}){1-5}
    %% body of table
    \multirow{7}{*}[\defaultaddspace]{\rotatebox[origin =tr]{90}{sources}} &\cellcolor{lightgray}Source 1 & Description 10
             & Description 11
             & Description 12 \\[2\defaultaddspace]
    &\cellcolor{lightgray}Source 2 (additional info)
             & Description 20
             & Description 21
             & Description 22, \par
               Description 23, \par
               Description 24 \\[\defaultaddspace]
    &\cellcolor{lightgray}Source 3 & Description 30
             & Description 31
             & Description 32, \par
               Description 33, \par
               Description 34 \\
    \cmidrule[\heavyrulewidth](r{-\tabcolsep}){1-5}
    \end{tabularx}
    \end{table}

    \end{document}

Background color for rows and columns of a table

3 Answers3