Tables in LaTeX FAQ not rendering

  • Context: LaTeX 
  • Thread starter Thread starter vela
  • Start date Start date
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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the rendering issues of tables in the LaTeX FAQ on Physics Forums, with participants reporting different experiences regarding the visibility and formatting of these tables across various web browsers. The scope includes technical troubleshooting and updates to forum resources.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • One participant reports that tables in the LaTeX FAQ are no longer formatted correctly and instead show BBcode tags.
  • Another participant claims they still see the tables and questions whether the first participant has cleared their browser cache.
  • A participant checks multiple browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer) and confirms that none render the tables correctly.
  • There is a request for a link to the FAQ page to verify the issue, with a suggestion that the FAQ may have been created before recent changes to BBcode.
  • One participant provides a link to an updated LaTeX help page, suggesting that the original FAQ links may be outdated.
  • Another participant acknowledges the outdated links in stickied threads and mentions updating them to point to the correct LaTeX help page.
  • Further updates are discussed regarding the Troubleshooting FAQ and additional tweaks to guidelines for students and helpers.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing experiences regarding the rendering of tables, with some seeing issues while others do not. There is no consensus on the cause of the discrepancies, and the discussion remains unresolved regarding the rendering problem.

Contextual Notes

There are indications of potential version differences in the FAQ or outdated links that may contribute to the confusion. The discussion highlights the need for clarity in forum resources.

vela
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I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I just noticed the tables in the LaTeX FAQ no longer appear formatted as tables. I see the BBcode tags now instead.
 
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I still see tables. Did you clear the cache?
Which browser do you use?
 
I checked in both Safari and Chrome. Neither renders the tables.

Edit: I checked the FAQ in Firefox as well, and also in Internet Explorer and Chrome on Windows. None renders the tables.

I attached a screen shot of what I'm seeing.

Screen Shot 2015-03-29 at 10.12.35 AM.png
 
Last edited:
This is what my firefox shows:

table.png
 
Can you link me to the page? Pretty sure that FAQ was made prior to the table BBCODE experiment.

I did remove the BBCODE table codes because they were not being used.
 
Oh, OK, then the links in some of the stickied threads are out of date and should be fixed.
 
vela said:
Oh, OK, then the links in some of the stickied threads are out of date and should be fixed.
@vela, I went through the six topics in the Homework section (the ones you wrote, titled "Guidelines for students and helpers") and updated the links to the LaTeX help page in both places that they appear in each page. Five of the six pages were identical, so it was easy to find the links that needed to be updated. The sixth one (in Adv. Physics Homework) was slightly different, but still easy to fix.

I checked each of the two links in all six stickied topics, and they all went to the correct web page. If there are any other pages that need updates, let me know.
 
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Thanks, @Mark44. It looks like the Troubleshooting FAQ was moved as well, so I updated that link. Today, I've been avoiding doing what I'm supposed to be doing, so I spent a few hours tweaking the guidelines. I updated all of the threads except the one in the Intro Physics forum because I can't edit that post.

I added a little bit about how using only images can cause problems for people on mobile devices. (I know it was driving Ray Vickson nuts a few months ago.) And I tweaked the advice for helpers, asking them to report posts showing no effort, and I added a paragraph suggesting that students be given time before helpers provide more hints.
 

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