I really like comparison tables on wikipedia but find them hard to navigate.
For example: Comparison of web browsers > General Information
Say I want a web browser for Linux which has been recently updated. I can sort by the “Platform” column, or by “Latest release: Date” but not both.
Sometimes tables can be very wide and/or very tall. Once you get to scrolling it is impossible to see either the row or column headings. So then you can’t tell where you even are in the table. Example: Table of AMD processors Also they can have complex structures with merged headings and content.
Ideally I would like to apply some basic spreadsheet-type operations like hiding rows/columns, filtering, sorting by multiple columns etc. Even if there was a way to easily get the table into an actual spreadsheet that would be helpful. I tried some extensions that export tables to other formats but nothing worked without a lot of cleanup.
Is there some kind of trick or tool or extension that makes these ginormous tables useful? I can’t tell how people even add information to these things, they are so large.
“I can’t tell how people add information to these things”
As a Wikipedian, it’s actually not that difficult. You typically start by row and just fill them all out. The much harder part is collecting the information initially, and verifying it (which as you can see in most comparisons isn’t actually done).
These aren’t even datasets that are large enough to warrant automation.