Imagine I have a Template Table that I call in my current entry. It looks pretty messy in editing mode, especially if some cells are supposed to have long text in them and, on top of that, when I want to add a new row, I can barely see how many “pipes” should I have for the new row’s columns.
I wish it was possible to work with tables like we do now with list checkboxes, which can be “edited” -checked- without going into editing mode and placing an “x” inside the square brackets. Just like checkboxes, the table cells could be rendered as text fields by Logseq and Logseq could also have a “Add new Row” clickable button just like the “+” circle that appears so you can add a new bullet. It could take the “template” of he new row from the dashed row just under the header for this, and removing the dashes in the process:
Example:
| Column1 Text | Column2 Text that is longer and will mess the look of the table in “Editing Mode” | [Column3 Text that is a Link](long URL here for example) Column4 Text |
|-|-|-|-| (<- gets transformed into a "New Row Template in the form of “| | | | |” )
| Column1-Row1 Text | Column2-Row1 Text that goes 50 characters | Column3-Row1 Text that goes 100 characters, which in “Editing mode” will span on new line, breaking how the Table looks | Column4 Text 40 characters long |
(+) (<- “Add New Row” button that gets replaced, upon click, to “| | | |” in Markdown and displayed in Non-Editing Mode, with editable fields, just like checkboxes do);
How do you feel about a “live editing of tables in Logseq” without going to editing mode ?
Tables in markdown are a nightmare. However, the example I always refer to is Typora, which makes table editing sooooo easy because it is done in its WYSIWYG mode.
Another example: I am using VS Code for 1 particular template for my weekly journals which essentially consists of 10-15 tables. I use an extension, Markdown Editor, which lets you edit tables in WYSIWYG too.
So, it is possible. But even a relatively sophisticated app like Obsidian, with top-notch dev “Licat”, has not been able to implement it, or not willing to.
Having to rely on VSCodium or third party mark down editors is too cumbersome for the casual Logseq user and, if he/she is not into privacy first, open source mantra, they can as well switch to Obsidian or whatever.But for people who stick with Logseq for the above mentioned and don’t have coding skills or don’t use dev IDEs like VSCodum, a simple way to have tables in their Logseq PKM is by Logseq supporting an easy way to add and edit them.
Like I said, I only rely on VSC for 1 particular file type that I do not use in Logseq; I do not use VSC as a note-taking app. Besides, like you say, it would too cumbersome.
Switching to Obsidian does not solve the table problem as its tables, even in Live Preview, are still atrocious. And the few plug-ins don’t cut it either, they constitute a janky workaround - I know because I came from Obsidian, though I still use it as my archival PKM repository.
Then it seems that the journaling, outliner note-taking world seems to need such a feature and it could be a good differentiator from the rest. If logseq wants to ever be a PKM and PM and LifeOS then csv, tables etc are a must. My 2c.
In Logseq roadmap there is “WYSIWYG” (“what you see is what you get” that is basically what you are asking) so I guess at a certain point also tables will be addressed
For now there is a plugin to edit table but it is not ideal.
