[Tex/LaTex] Positioning of text in table cells

positioningtables

enter image description here

In the above depicted table I am not happy with the positioning of the text "Job category" and "Distribution of 1000…". Ideally, I would like the job category text to be aligned in the centre of the white space in which the text is written. At the moment it is too much aligned to the top hline.

Furthermore, I don't understand from the code why the text "Distribution…" intercepts at the position that it does and isn't aligned to the right (until 1870) of the cell it's written in.

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
    \usepackage{multirow}
    \usepackage{bigstrut}
\makeatletter
\def\hlinewd#1{%
  \noalign{\ifnum0=`}\fi\hrule \@height #1 \futurelet
   \reserved@a\@xhline}
\makeatother

    \begin{document}
\begin{table}[h!]
  \centering
  \caption{Shift in job distribution 1870 - 1910}
  \scriptsize
    \begin{tabular}{l|c|c|c|c|c}
    \hlinewd{1.25pt}
    \multicolumn{1}{c}{\multirow{2}[4]{*}{Job category}} & \multicolumn{5}{p{3.5cm}}{Distribution of 1000 individuals of the overall population} \bigstrut\\
\cline{2-6}    \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & 1910  & 1900  & 1888  & 1880  & 1870 \bigstrut\\
    \hline
    A. Primary production & 277   & 332   & 388   & 406   & 429 \bigstrut[t]\\
    Thereof agriculture and cattle industry & 261   & 316   & 374   & 391   & 416 \\
    B. Trade and industry & 427   & 417   & 378   & 390   & 367 \\
    C. Commerce & 101   & 86    & 73    & 72    & 66 \\
    D. Transport & 63    & 51    & 34    & 28    & 18 \\
    E. Public administration, science, arts & 57    & 51    & 44    & 43    & 43 \\
    F. Changing wage labour  & 10    & 6     & 10    & 6     & 7 \\
    G. Living off pensions and benefits & 65    & 57    & 73    & 55    & 70 \bigstrut[b]\\
    \hlinewd{1.25pt}
    \end{tabular}%
    \vspace{5pt}
    \captionsetup{font={footnotesize}}
    \caption*{Source: Steinemann et al. (1921), p. 23, own illustration}
  \label{tab:addlabel}%
\end{table}%

\end{document}

Best Answer

You fixed-width p-column is too narrow. You can calculate the actual width to have a more precise measurement if needed, or specify something close to it (the actual width, under \scriptsize is around 133pt):

enter image description here

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage{bigstrut,booktabs,siunitx}
\makeatletter
\def\hlinewd#1{%
  \noalign{\ifnum0=`}\fi\hrule \@height #1 \futurelet
   \reserved@a\@xhline}
\makeatother
\begin{document}

\scriptsize

\newlength{\specialcolwidth}
\settowidth{\specialcolwidth}{\scriptsize 19101900188818801870}
\addtolength{\specialcolwidth}{8\tabcolsep}

\begin{tabular}{l|c|c|c|c|c}
  \hlinewd{1.25pt}
  \multicolumn{1}{c}{\raisebox{-.5\normalbaselineskip}[0pt][0pt]{Job category}} & 
    \multicolumn{5}{p{\specialcolwidth}}{Distribution of 1000 individuals of the overall population} \bigstrut\\
  \cline{2-6}
  \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & 1910  & 1900  & 1888  & 1880  & 1870 \bigstrut\\
  \hline
  A. Primary production & 277   & 332   & 388   & 406   & 429 \bigstrut[t]\\
  Thereof agriculture and cattle industry & 261   & 316   & 374   & 391   & 416 \\
  B. Trade and industry & 427   & 417   & 378   & 390   & 367 \\
  C. Commerce & 101   & 86    & 73    & 72    & 66 \\
  D. Transport & 63    & 51    & 34    & 28    & 18 \\
  E. Public administration, science, arts & 57    & 51    & 44    & 43    & 43 \\
  F. Changing wage labour  & 10    & 6     & 10    & 6     & 7 \\
  G. Living off pensions and benefits & 65    & 57    & 73    & 55    & 70 \bigstrut[b]\\
  \hlinewd{1.25pt}
\end{tabular}%

\bigskip

\begin{tabular}{ l *{5}{S[table-format=4]} }
  \toprule
  \multicolumn{1}{c}{\raisebox{-.5\normalbaselineskip}[0pt][0pt]{Job category}} & 
    \multicolumn{5}{p{\specialcolwidth}}{\centering Distribution of 1000 individuals of the overall population} \\
  \cmidrule{2-6}
                                          & 1910 & 1900 & 1888 & 1880 & 1870 \\
  \midrule
  A. Primary production                   &  277 &  332 &  388 &  406 &  429 \\
  Thereof agriculture and cattle industry &  261 &  316 &  374 &  391 &  416 \\
  B. Trade and industry                   &  427 &  417 &  378 &  390 &  367 \\
  C. Commerce                             &  101 &   86 &   73 &   72 &   66 \\
  D. Transport                            &   63 &   51 &   34 &   28 &   18 \\
  E. Public administration, science, arts &   57 &   51 &   44 &   43 &   43 \\
  F. Changing wage labour                 &   10 &    6 &   10 &    6 &    7 \\
  G. Living off pensions and benefits     &   65 &   57 &   73 &   55 &   70 \\
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}%

\end{document}

My solution also presents an siunitx column layout with booktabs (and no use of multirow).

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Positioning of text in cells/tables

By default, X columns are translated to p{...} columns; if you want to change this, you can redefine \tabularxcolumn to use, for example, b{...} columns:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\renewcommand\tabularxcolumn[1]{b{#1}}

\begin{document}

\noindent\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XXX}
text & \lipsum*[2] & text
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Using the multirow package one can control alignment for individual cells:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\renewcommand\tabularxcolumn[1]{b{#1}}

\begin{document}

\noindent\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XXX}
text & \lipsum*[2] & \multirow{-25}{*}{text}
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] tabu package – gaps in vertical lines

One way is to shift up the skip prior to the mid-height \tabucline with a \\[-1pt]. See below for 2nd approach.

%Dokumentclass
\documentclass[landscape]{letter}

%Packages
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]     {inputenc}
\usepackage           {multirow}
\usepackage           {tabu}

%Formatting
\pagestyle{empty} %Remove numbering

\begin{document}
  \begin{tabu}{ |[1pt] l | l l | l | l |[1pt] }
                                                                                                                 \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
    \multicolumn{2}{ |[1pt] l }{ } & \multicolumn{3}{ |[1pt] l |[1pt]}{ }                                     \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\                       \hline
 y   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\[-1pt]   \tabucline[1 pt]{3-5} 
\hline
 x   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\ \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
  \end{tabu}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Alternately, if you want the thin line to bisect the thick line, then the approach: \\[-1pt] \tabucline[1 pt]{3-5}\\[-12.5pt]\hline works.

%Dokumentclass
\documentclass[landscape]{letter}

%Packages
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]     {inputenc}
\usepackage           {multirow}
\usepackage           {tabu}

%Formatting
\pagestyle{empty} %Remove numbering

\begin{document}
  \begin{tabu}{ |[1pt] l | l l | l | l |[1pt] }
                                                                                                                 \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
    \multicolumn{2}{ |[1pt] l }{ } & \multicolumn{3}{ |[1pt] l |[1pt]}{ }                                     \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\                       \hline
 y   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\[-1pt]   \tabucline[1 pt]{3-5}\\[-12.5pt]
\hline
 x   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\ \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
  \end{tabu}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Positioning of text in cells/tables

[Tex/LaTex] tabu package – gaps in vertical lines

Related Question