tbl-colwidths ignored when table is created by kable, as is full_width = FALSE

[bryanhanson]

Bug description

Originally raised here and possibly related but it was suggested to open a new issue. That problem was related to pandoc's handling of docx files and was fixed by pandoc for that format. This maybe a similar problem, IDK.

I was trying to control the overall table width of a kable-generated html table in a website project. I tried to specify tbl-colwidths in the chunk but this was ignored. Then I tried the kable_styling(full_width = FALSE) which normally does a good job of adjusting overall width and individual column width, but this was also ignored.

It appears the settings are ignored or perhaps overridden. At least in the case of tbl-colwidths I can see the information passed to the html in the page source but it looks like it is echoed there and not really used (my best guess).

Steps to reproduce

_quarto.yml

project:
  title: "test"
  type: "website"

test.qmd

---
title: "Two Ways to Handle Table Width Using kable; Neither Works"
---

@tbl-results1 shows how to control the table column widths; however, the settings seem to be ignored.  At the same time, another way to control this with `kable` doesn't work either, see @tbl-results2.

```{r}
#| echo: false
library("kableExtra")
library("magrittr")
```

```{r}
#| label: tbl-results1
#| tbl-cap: "mtcars using colwidths doesn't work."
#| tbl-colwidths: [15, 15, 15, 15]
kable(mtcars[,1:3]) %>%
  kable_styling(c("striped", "bordered"))
```

```{r}
#| label: tbl-results2
#| tbl-cap: "mtcars with full_width = FALSE doesn't work."
kable(mtcars[,1:3]) %>%
  kable_styling(c("striped", "bordered"), full_width = FALSE)
```

Expected behavior

I want the table column widths to shrink to contain the contents w/o a lot of white space, and in turn, this will make the table overall narrower.

Actual behavior

Right now the table occupies the full width with a lot of white space.

Your environment

-IDE: command line
-OS: MacOS 12.6.7

Quarto check output

[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.1.2: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.55.0: OK
      Deno version 1.33.2: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 99.9.9
      Path: /Users/bryanhanson/Documents/Professional/Research/R_Pkgs/quarto-cli/package/dist/bin

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.11.2
      Path: /usr/local/opt/python@3.11/bin/python3.11
      Jupyter: (None)

      Jupyter is not available in this Python installation.
      Install with python3 -m pip install jupyter

[✓] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.3.0
      Path: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources
      LibPaths:
        - /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.3-x86_64/Resources/library
      knitr: 1.43
      rmarkdown: 2.22

[✓] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[cderv]

I tried to specify tbl-colwidths in the chunk but this was ignored.

It seems there is indeed a problem with that. Simpler example with only kable() producing a Markdown table.

---
title: "tbl-colwidths"
keep-md: true
---

```{r}
#| label: tbl-results1
#| tbl-cap: "mtcars using colwidths doesn't work."
#| tbl-colwidths: [25, 25, 25, 25]
knitr::kable(mtcars[,1:3])
```

It is working with latest 1.3 so it seems to be a regression in current dev version (@bryanhanson you can use latest 1.3 for now instead of dev version - though thanks a lot for testing dev version, that is really helpful !! )

As it was a regression I did a quick git bisect and it ends up that commit c5b6176 from #5245 introduced the regression.

It seems we are not handling tbl-colwidths chunk option the same following the big Lua rewrite for performance. FYI @cscheid as you did the work on that.

I'll try to find the specific regression inside this big change.

[cderv]

Then I tried the kable_styling(full_width = FALSE) which normally does a good job of adjusting overall width and individual column width, but this was also ignored.

@bryanhanson regarding this, it has to do with Quarto special table processing. Some of kableExtra specific feature won't work correctly as Quarto will parse the HTML table, and do its processing for layout and style. Related issue: #5138

If you want to keep the kableExtra special behavior, you need to deactivate quarto processing. This is mentioned in doc at
https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/tables.html#disabling-quarto-table-processing : data-quarto-disable-processing="true" needs to be set on the tables.

We don't say exactly why for all ways to do tables, but one can look how to do for specific tool. For example, with knitr::kable() passing attributes is an argument (or even an option). See https://bookdown.org/yihui/rmarkdown-cookbook/kable.html#customize-html-tables

---
title: "Disabling processing"
---

```{r}
library(kableExtra)
```

```{r}
#| label: tbl-results2
#| tbl-cap: "mtcars with full_width = FALSE doesn't work."
kable(mtcars[,1:3], table.attr = "quarto-disable-processing=true") |>
  kable_styling(c("striped", "bordered"), full_width = FALSE)
```

This will target a specific chunk, so specific table. To set for all tables on a document, the attributes can also be set using knitr.table.html.attr options.

---
title: "Disabling processing"
---

```{r}
library(kableExtra)
options(knitr.table.html.attr = "quarto-disable-processing=true")
```

```{r}
#| label: tbl-results2
#| tbl-cap: "mtcars with full_width = FALSE doesn't work."
kable(mtcars[,1:3]) |>
  kable_styling(c("striped", "bordered"), full_width = FALSE)
```

Also possible to set using special knitr options through YAML header

---
title: "Disabling processing"
knitr: 
  opts_chunk: 
    R.options: 
      knitr.table.html.attr: "quarto-disable-processing=true"
---

```{r}
library(kableExtra)
```

```{r}
#| label: tbl-results2
#| tbl-cap: "mtcars with full_width = FALSE doesn't work."
kable(mtcars[,1:3]) |>
  kable_styling(c("striped", "bordered"), full_width = FALSE)
```

Hope it helps

I'll add an example in documentation somewhere.

[mcanouil]

🤯 I did not know, it was possible to target specific content and add attributes only to those.

knitr: 
  opts_chunk: 
    R.options: 
      knitr.table.html.attr: "quarto-disable-processing=true"

[aborruso]

🤯 I did not know, it was possible to target specific content and add attributes only to those.

@cderv Can I test something similar for generic markdown table? If yes, how to?

[cderv]

Can I test something similar for generic markdown table? If yes, how to?

It would be better to discuss anything specific in a new Github discussion as this issue related really to the Lua problem (fix in the way FWIW). You can then provide more details on your question. This would be helpful as I am not sure to follow the question. Why deactivate the Quarto processing on Markdown tables ?

Anyhow, attributes can be set on Markdown tables the same way as you set tbl-colwidths or bootstrap class as shown in doc https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/tables.html

So you should be able to add the attributes on the table this way.

[cderv]

I'll add an example in documentation somewhere.

I have published an example on this https://examples.quarto.pub/opt-out-table-processing-kable/

[bryanhanson]

@cderv and @mcanouil you are the best, thanks for the fix and the good explanations!

[ulyngs]

@cderv is there a way to opt out of the table processing for LaTeX output?

[mcanouil]

@ulyngs I don't believe there is any processing of the table for LaTeX. By processing here we mean styling.