<td>   Hello World!</td>

diff --git a/src/formatter/class/wackoformatter.php b/src/formatter/class/wackoformatter.php
index 06165df..b231c4b 100644
--- a/src/formatter/class/wackoformatter.php
+++ b/src/formatter/class/wackoformatter.php
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@
             "\|\#|" .
             "\|\|.*?\|\||" .
             "\*\|.*?\|\*|" .
+            "\^\|.*?\|\||" .
+            "\?\|.*?\|\?|" .
             // symbols < or >
             "<|>|" .
             // italic //...//
@@ -436,10 +438,20 @@

             return '</table>';
         }
-        // table head
+        // table head columns
         else if (preg_match('/^\*\|(.*?)\|\*$/us', $thing, $matches) && $this->table_scope)
         {
-            return $this->table_rows($matches[1], $callback, true);
+            return $this->table_rows($matches[1], $callback, 1);
+        }
+        // table head column or head row
+        else if (preg_match('/^\^\|(.*?)\|\|$/us', $thing, $matches) && $this->table_scope)
+        {
+            return $this->table_rows($matches[1], $callback, 2);
+        }
+        // table caption
+        else if (preg_match('/^\?\|(.*?)\|\?$/us', $thing, $matches) && $this->table_scope)
+        {
+            return "\t" . '<caption>' . preg_replace_callback($this->LONG_REGEX, $callback, $matches[1]) . '</caption>';
         }
         // table row and cells
         else if (preg_match('/^\|\|(.*?)\|\|$/us', $thing, $matches) && $this->table_scope)
@@ -798,7 +810,7 @@
             if (!$new_indent_type)
             {
                 $opener        = '<div class="indent">';
-                $closer        = '</div>' . "\n";
+                $closer        = '</div>';
                 $this->br    = true;
                 $new_type    = 'i';
             }
@@ -923,8 +935,10 @@
         return Ut::html($thing);
     }

-    public function table_rows($matches, array $callback, bool $header = false): string
+    public function table_rows($string, array $callback, int $header = 0): string
     {
+        $wacko        = & $this->object;
+
         $strip_delimiter = function ($string): string
         {
             return str_replace("\u{2592}", '',
@@ -936,9 +950,33 @@
         $this->intable        = true;
         $this->intable_br    = false;

-        $tag        = $header ? 'th' : 'td';
-        $output        = '<tr>';
-        $cells        = preg_split('/\|/', $matches);
+        $tag        = $header === 1 ? 'th' : 'td';
+        $output        = "\t" . '<tr>';
+
+        // ensures the ^ is not preceded or followed by another ^, matches only isolated ^ characters
+        $pattern    = '/((?<!\^)\^(?!\^)|\|)/';
+        $result        = preg_split($pattern, $string, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
+
+        // remove empty values if any
+        $result        = array_filter($result, 'strlen');
+
+        // rebuild into [key][delimiter, result]
+        $cells        = [];
+        $delimiter    = null;
+
+        foreach ($result as $token)
+        {
+            if (in_array($token, ['^', '|']))
+            {
+                $delimiter    = $token;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                $cells[]    = [$delimiter, $token];
+                $delimiter    = null;
+            }
+        }
+
         $count        = count($cells);
         $count--;

@@ -946,21 +984,128 @@
         {
             $this->tdold_indent_level    = 0;
             $this->tdindent_closers        = [];
+
+            // supported attributes
+            $align                        = '';
+            $bgcolor                    = '';
+            $class                        = '';
             $colspan                    = '';
+            $id                            = '';
+            $rowspan                    = '';
+            $scope                        = '';
+            $valign                        = '';
+            $width                        = '';

-            if ($cell[0] == "\n")
+            if (!$header)
             {
-                $cell = substr($cell, 1);
+                $tag = match($cell[0])
+                {
+                    '^'            => 'th',
+                    default        => 'td'
+                };
+            }
+            else if ($header === 2)
+            {
+                $tag = $i === 0 ? 'th' : 'td';
             }

-            if (($i == $count) && ($this->cols <> 0) && ($count < $this->cols))
+            // attributes
+            $pattern = '/^\(((?:\s*(\w+)\s*=\s*([^)\s]+)\s*)+)\)(.*)/usm';
+
+            if (preg_match($pattern, $cell[1], $matches))
             {
-                $colspan = ' colspan="' . ($this->cols - $count + 1) . '"';
+                $params_str        = $matches[1];
+                $param_pattern    = '/(\w+)\s*=\s*([^)\s]+)/';
+
+                preg_match_all($param_pattern, $params_str, $param_matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
+
+                $params = [];
+
+                foreach ($param_matches as $pair)
+                {
+                    $params[$pair[1]] = $pair[2];
+                }
+
+                // align
+                if (isset($params['align'])
+                    && in_array($params['align'], ['center', 'left', 'right', 'justify']))
+                {
+                    $align = ' text-' . $params['align'];
+                }
+
+                // bgcolor
+                if (isset($params['bgcolor'])
+                    && in_array($params['bgcolor'], ($wacko->db->allow_x11colors ? $this->x11_colors : $this->colors)))
+                {
+                    $bgcolor = ' mark-' . $params['bgcolor'];
+                }
+
+                // colspan
+                if (isset($params['colspan']))
+                {
+                    $colspan = ' colspan="' . (int)    $params['colspan'] . '"';
+                }
+
+                // id
+                if (isset($params['id'])
+                    && preg_match('/^[\w-]+$/', $params['id']))
+                {
+                    $id = ' id="' . $params['id'] . '"';
+                }
+
+                // rowspan
+                if (isset($params['rowspan']))
+                {
+                    $rowspan = ' rowspan="' . (int)    $params['rowspan'] . '"';
+                }
+
+                // scope
+                if (isset($params['scope'])
+                    && in_array($params['scope'], ['row', 'col', 'rowgroup', 'colgroup']))
+                {
+                    $scope = ' scope="' . $params['scope'] . '"';
+                }
+
+                // valign
+                if (isset($params['valign'])
+                    && in_array($params['valign'], ['top', 'middle', 'bottom']))
+                {
+                    $valign = ' vertical-' . $params['valign'];
+                }
+
+                // width
+                if (isset($params['width'])
+                    && preg_match('/^(?:\d+|0\.\d+)(?:px|%|em|rem)$/', $params['width']))
+                {
+                    $width = ' style="width: ' . $params['width'] . ';"';
+                }
+
+                // class
+                if ($align || $bgcolor || $valign)
+                {
+                    $class = ' class="' . trim($align . $bgcolor . $valign) . '"';
+                }
+
+                $cell[1]    = $matches[4] ?? '';
             }

-            $output .= $strip_delimiter(
-                '<' . $tag . $colspan . '>' .
-                preg_replace_callback($this->LONG_REGEX, $callback, "\u{2592}\n" . $cell));
+            if ($cell[1][0] == "\n")
+            {
+                $cell[1] = substr($cell[1], 1);
+            }
+
+            $output .=
+                '<' .
+                    $tag .            // <- must be first!
+                    $id .
+                    $class .
+                    $colspan .
+                    $rowspan .
+                    $scope .
+                    $width .
+                '>' .
+                $strip_delimiter(
+                    preg_replace_callback($this->LONG_REGEX, $callback, "\u{2592}\n" . $cell[1]));

             if ($i != $count)
             {

diff --git a/src/theme/default/css/wacko.css b/src/theme/default/css/wacko.css
index 7b81d44..b8ff265 100644
--- a/src/theme/default/css/wacko.css
+++ b/src/theme/default/css/wacko.css
@@ -166,10 +166,18 @@
     background-color: #eee;
 }

+.usertable caption {
+    border: 1px solid #ccc;
+    font-size: 95%;
+    color: #666;
+    margin: 5px 0;
+    padding: 2px;
+}
+
 .usertable td,
 .usertable th {
     border: 1px solid #ccc;
-    padding: 4px;
+    padding: .3em .5em;
     vertical-align: top;
 }