[users] Tables in Gemtext

[Kiëd Llaentenn]

Hello,

Just recently I was creating a Gemini mirror of an HTTP site, and came
across several pages that made heavy use of tables. I did what I suspect
most Gemini publishers/content authors do: use ASCII tables, like so:

+--------------------------------+-------+
| Food                           | Price |
+--------------------------------+-------+
| Eggs                           | $2    |
| Eggs and spam                  | $4    |
| Eggs, spam, eggs and spam      | $8    |
| Spam spam baked beans and spam | $8    |
| Just spam                      | $2    |
+--------------------------------+-------+

There are several problems with this approach, though:

1. It requires the client to display the table in a monospaced font,
   which many would prefer not to use.
2. Text in table rows won't be wrapped properly on narrow displays.
3. ASCII tables are anything but screenreader friendly, since there's no
   semantic information about the table's structure.
4. It mixes information and presentation, which is against the spirit of
   Gemini(?)

So, are there any other options for having tables in Gemtext, other than
adding a new syntax to the spec? I'm hard pressed to think of another
solution.

Regards,

---
kiedtl