Community Wishlist Survey 2022/Reading/floating table headers

Random proposal ►◄ Reading The survey has concluded. Here are the results!

floating table headers

Problem: when scrolling a long list, the header label of a column of data scrolls up out of view
Proposed solution: implement a feature where, for long lists, column headers (labels) are still visible (floating) as you scroll down.
Who would benefit: millions of people
More comments: this is a common feature on modern websites. example would be a table that includes country name, population, area in km, area in miles. but it's 100 lines long. so you scroll down & now you don't know which column is miles and which is km. you have to scroll back up & this degrades user experience. Think of freezing a line at the top of a spreadsheet in excel or google docs. this is the same principle, but of course implementing this on wikip will be more dynamic because a table is not the entire document on wikip.
Phabricator tickets: T42763
Proposer: Skakkle (talk) 23:50, 17 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

See w:MediaWiki:Gadget-StickyTableHeaders.js and w:MediaWiki:Gadget-StickyTableHeaders.css — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 22:07, 28 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed. This is already an available option in preferences, but apparently many people are unaware this option exists. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kimdorris (talk) 30 January 2022

The gadget adds sticky column headers to all non-scrolling tables:

See: w:Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets. Search for "sticky" to find: "Make headers of tables display as long as the table is in view, i.e. 'sticky' (requires Chrome v91+, Firefox v59+, or Safari)." Unfortunately, it doesn't do sticky side headers, though. That would be helpful in tablets, and smaller notebooks. I tested the gadget again just now in Firefox, Edge, and Chrome. It works in all 3 in Windows 10 on my desktop PCs. Only problem is in Firefox where the internal header borders are missing. Here is a page to test it on that has complicated headers:

w:List of U.S. states and territories by incarceration and correctional supervision rate.

In desktop view while on my iPhone SE 2020 the gadget makes the column headers sticky. In mobile view while on my iphone the gadget does not make those column headers sticky.

There are scrolling Covid-19 tables with a template style that makes both column and row headers sticky. The sticky headers work in desktop and mobile browsers. Tested in Safari, Edge, Chrome, and Firefox. For more info see:

w:User:Timeshifter/Sandbox169. --Timeshifter (talk) 17:00, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Let's not forget to make row headers left sticky so all relevant headers are always in view when scrolling large tables on small devices. Jroberson108 (talk) 05:01, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Voting

Support — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 22:07, 28 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support DMacks (talk) 22:11, 28 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Izno (talk) 23:54, 28 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support I use a script for this; it should be built in. Certes (talk) 01:36, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Betseg (talk) 02:14, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Clear benefit. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 03:18, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ottawajin (talk) 05:42, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support A clear improvement... and not that hard to implement either! Šedý (talk) 10:45, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Should be a built in feature. Meiræ 11:52, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Hemantha (talk) 12:36, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support NguoiDungKhongDinhDanh 12:38, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Bernard Grychowski (talk) 12:45, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Javiermes (talk) 13:59, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support —Bruce1ee^talk 14:40, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Aca (talk) 15:02, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support ♥Ainali ^talk_{contributions} 15:43, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nw520 (talk) 23:56, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Wostr (talk) 00:26, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Bluealbion (talk) 01:30, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support There is progress at T42763. --Timeshifter (talk) 07:12, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support TheInternetGnome (talk) 08:25, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Jroberson108 (talk) 10:04, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support HEAVILY needed Lectrician1 (talk) 18:53, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Sea Cow (talk) 18:54, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Titore (talk) 19:08, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support BrandonXLF (talk) 20:26, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Libcub (talk) 23:19, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support JPxG (talk) 00:58, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose This feature already exists. See preferences > gadgets > sticky table headings. Kimdorris (talk) 04:09, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
- @Kimdorris: The gadget is just a test gadget on enwiki. It should be bulit-in and default for all users. — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 09:49, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support NaBUru38 (talk) 13:04, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support as optional JAn Dudík (talk) 13:08, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support the wub "?!" 15:00, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Hb2007 (talk) 15:39, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Bencemac (talk) 18:04, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Shooterwalker (talk) 22:20, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Dave Braunschweig (talk) 00:04, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Mohammad ebz (talk) 07:59, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Thingofme (talk) 13:32, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Szymonel (talk) 13:36, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 21:37, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Wargo (talk) 22:08, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Browk2512 (talk) 01:15, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose KingAntenor (talk) 06:56, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Geert Van Pamel (WMBE) (talk) 16:10, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Silver hr (talk) 18:56, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Trlit (talk) 05:32, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Aimwin66166 (talk) 06:08, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support I have a love/hate relationship with the existing stick header gadget. When you browse to an anchor in a table row, it scrolls to the right place and then paints the sticky headers over the top of what you were trying to browse to. Ugh. But I understand this is a browser problem and not a wiki software problem. YBG (talk) 07:26, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Rotavdrag (talk) 11:22, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Paucabot (talk) 15:44, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Vega (talk) 18:15, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Daniel Case (talk) 06:02, 4 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support — Bilorv (talk) 19:42, 4 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Tomastvivlaren (talk) 08:51, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support 16AdityaG09 (talk) 09:00, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Kpjas (talk) 10:28, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Rdr3141 (talk) 12:04, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support paul2520 (talk) 20:14, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support —Thanks for the fish! ^{talk•contrib} (he/him) 21:56, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Waldyrious (talk) 23:34, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose --Ciao • Bestoernesto • ✉ 03:15, 6 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support —— Eric Liu_（Talk） 09:31, 6 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ayumu Ozaki (talk) 01:19, 7 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 17:14, 7 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Tom Ja (talk) 17:59, 7 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Tacsipacsi (talk) 21:15, 8 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 11:19, 9 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support — DaxServer (t · c) 13:01, 9 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support ~Cybularny ^Speak? 23:33, 9 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Quiddity (talk) 08:40, 10 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Dipsacus fullonum (talk) 22:49, 10 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Gaurav (talk) 03:26, 11 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support 4nn1l2 (talk) 12:41, 11 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Facenapalm (talk) 15:15, 11 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Forrestkirby (talk) 15:33, 11 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]