Is there an equivalent of html-table-processing: none for Typst output?

[JosephBARBIERDARNAL]

Description

Hello!

I use {gt} with Quarto and typst output, and often the table output does not exactly match the appearance of the gt table (e.g., what I see when saving to disk or in the plot panel of my editor).

I think this is expected, because from what I understand, Quarto converts the gt table to a Typst table under the hood, which requires translating all the style properties.

That's why I'm looking for an equivalent to html-table-processing: none (that does exactly what I want for HTML table processing). Something like typst-table-processing.

For now, the best solution I've found is to save the table and add it back as an image in markdown, but I think there's a simpler solution:

---
format: typst
---

```{r}
library(gt)

data <- data.frame(
    Name = c(“Alice”, ‘Bob’, “Charlie”),
    Score = c(90, 85, 88)
)

gt(data) |>
    gtsave(“here.png”)
```

![](here.png)

Ideally, I could just do the following and get the same result as above:

---
format:
  typst:
    typst-table-processing: none
---

```{r}
library(gt)

data <- data.frame(
    Name = c(“Alice”, ‘Bob’, “Charlie”),
    Score = c(90, 85, 88)
)

gt(data)
```

If it would be helpful, I can try to write examples of more specific unexpected/expected results in the gt table (like this #10653).

[JosephBARBIERDARNAL]

Edit: if this feature does not exist, I think it would super valuable to have in Quarto in the future. I could not find any feature request about this, but I might have missed it.

[mcanouil]

That cannot work, because gt does not emit Typst. If there is no Quarto processing, then there is no HTML to Typst table translation.

If there is a typst-table-processing it would be for you to write Typst table without Quarto modifying it.

[mcanouil]

• Add as_typst() function to support styled tables in typst Quarto output format rstudio/gt#1500

[cderv]

If it would be helpful, I can try to write examples of more specific unexpected/expected results in the gt table

As Mickael explained, gt produces HTML and in this is a Quarto feature (thanks to HTML table processing) that Quarto gives you a Typst table, trying its best to keep the HTML style.
You can read more about what we call "Typst CSS" at https://quarto.org/docs/output-formats/typst.html#typst-css
You'll see there a few advice like:

• If you want exactly the same color in your HTML and Typst output, specify the color using rgb() or hexadecimal #rrggbb syntax.

• Typst does not support opacity as a filter, so opacity is simulated using the alpha channel of the color.

We also have advanced documentation that give you more details about support and limitations of Typst CSS: https://quarto.org/docs/advanced/typst/typst-css.html

So be sure to consider those in case this is the difference you see.

And so, considering all this, it would be really helpful to know what the differences are that you see as not well supported.

For now, the best solution I've found is to save the table and add it back as an image in markdown

This is definitely a good solution! If you want the exact same table as the one styled in HTML, using screenshots is the best thing to do. As you are an Ruser, there may be some knit_print() solution we could find that would do this gtsave() automatically when the output format is typst. Maybe gt as support for this somewhow already - we would need to look at the doc.

Regarding Typst output, only R package I know that produce raw typst is tinytable (https://vincentarelbundock.github.io/tinytable/ ) but I don't know how good they are at keeping exact same styling between HTML and Typst table as they support both.

Hope it helps

[JosephBARBIERDARNAL]

Okay, that makes perfect sense, thank you. I didn't know that Quarto converted HTML gt tables to typst. A screenshot + markdown (or knit_print()) is probably the best solution for me in this case.

I'll take some time to write some reprex examples of what isn't well supported here. I've also noticed some differences between using the gt table and the gt table output in an HTML report, but that seems strange based on what you just said.

In typst, the current differences I see are

• column width (I may have seen some already opened issues/questions about this)
• font weight/style (I think I also found some already opened issues about this)
• line indentation on specific rows (probably related to cell alignment?)
• colors/opacity, but the solution is already mentioned above.

[cderv]

I've also noticed some differences between using the gt table and the gt table output in an HTML report, but that seems strange based on what you just said.

Not that strange. Let me clarify the logic:

• When quarto sees a HTML table, it will be parsed internally as Table element. This way it can be output as a Table in all quarto output format, no matter that the input was raw HTML only. This is the HTML processing feature by Quarto. Without this, if you have a HTML table in your input, and you target a non HTML output, the table would not show at all.

• This means that when gt does output a HTML table, with inline style, etc... quarto will still parse this table internally as a Table element, and then write that back to HTML if the output is HTML, with trying to keep as much style as possible. When html-table-processing: none does not happen, then the raw HTML table from gt is directly used in the HTML output.

• So we've noticed that some very specific gt feature may not be well supported. Sometimes it is a bug, sometimes it is a limitation (as Pandoc needs to write the table to HTML and may not support some stuff (like colwidth in pixels).

Hope this clarifies.

[JosephBARBIERDARNAL]

Ok I think it makes perfect sense now. I'll try to find some time to be more specific about the differences I'm seeing then. Thanks for the in-depth explanations!