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Specification tables

Every reference page on MDN should provide information about the specification or specifications in which that API or technology was defined. This article demonstrates what these tables look like and explains how to construct them.

These tables are similar in some respects to the compatibility tables (which should also be present on any page that has a specification table).

Format

A specification table consists of three columns:

Specification
The name of and link to the specification in which the technology is defined.
Status
The specification's status (for example, whether it's an editor's draft or a candidate recommendation).
Comment
Any additional information that may be relevant. This can be particularly helpful when an API is defined across multiple specifications, so that you can explain briefly what parts of the API come from each one.

Each row in the table describes one specification on which the API or technology is based.

Here's an example of what a specification table looks like; this one is for the MouseEvent interface:

Specification Status Comment
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Events Specification
The definition of 'MouseEvent' in that specification.
Recommendation  
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification
The definition of 'MouseEvent' in that specification.
Working Draft  
UI Events
The definition of 'MouseEvent' in that specification.
Working Draft Extend DOM3
Pointer Lock
The definition of 'MouseEvent' in that specification.
Candidate Recommendation Extend the MouseEvent interface

The table is a standard table with the CSS class spectable. The code looks as follows:

<table class="spectable standard-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM2 Events','#Events-MouseEvent','MouseEvent')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM2 Events')}}</td>
   <td> </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM3 Events','#events-mouseevents','MouseEvent')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM3 Events')}}</td>
   <td> </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('UI Events','#constructor-mouseevent','MouseEvent')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('UI Events')}}</td>
   <td>Extend DOM3</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('Pointer Lock','#extensions-to-the-mouseevent-interface','MouseEvent')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('Pointer Lock')}}</td>
   <td>Extend the <code>MouseEvent</code> interface</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

Macros

To help construct these tables in a standard format, with appropriate styling, we use KumaScript macros. There are two of these you need to know how to use.

Important: Using anything other than the macros below in the Specification and Status columns will break the tool we use to generate our compatibility database.

{{SpecName}}

The SpecName macro is used to create the contents of the "Specification" column. It accepts three parameters:

  1. The name of the specification.
  2. An optional anchor within the linked specification; this lets you link to a particular section in a specification that defines multiple objects or interfaces, for example. Note that even if this parameter optional, it is strongly recommended: when the readers click on the generated link, they expect to reach the precise place in the spec where the concept is defined.
  3. The property or entity name to use in the tooltip; this, too, is used when linking to specific interfaces within a specification. Although this parameter is also optional, it is strongly recommended to add it and it should be set to the name of the concept.

The names you may specify for specifications can be seen by looking at the specList object in the macro. If the specification you want to link to is not listed in the macro, ping an admin, or the dev-mdc mailing list so that it gets added.

{{Spec2}}

The Spec2 macro creates and inserts a widget indicating the status of a specification into the "Status" column, given the name of a specification. Here again, if the specification you want to link to is not listed in the macro, ping an admin, or the dev-mdc mailing list so that it gets added.

Document Tags and Contributors

 Contributors to this page: Ms2ger, jswisher, Sheppy, Sebastianz, teoli
 Last updated by: Ms2ger,