Color the Table Cell in LaTeX Using colortbl Package

May. 01, 2024

Few days ago, when I was writing my blog1, I found Hosang’s paper2, What makes for effective detection proposals?, which proposed the evaluation metric AR (Average Recall) for assessing the object detector performance.

In the paper, the format of this table appealed to me:

image-20240501194038559

I rarely saw the colored table in papers before, so when I first saw this table I found that it’s really an efficient and elegant way to make a comparison between numerical data, as Hosang explains in the table title:

  • Green indicates improvement of at least 2 AP;
  • Blue indicated minor change ($-2\le\text{AP}<2$);
  • White indicates a decrease by more than 2 AP.

Luckily, Hosang uploaded TeX source file of their paper to arXiv website2, so I have the opportunity to see how they created it.

From their .tex file, I identify the minimum available TeX code for reproducing this table:

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\documentclass[english,british,10pt,journal,compsoc]{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{colortbl}

\newcommand\celln{ } % White color
\newcommand\cellp{\cellcolor[rgb]{0.8510, 0.9176, 0.8275}} % Green cell
\newcommand\cellz{\cellcolor[rgb]{0.7882, 0.8549, 0.9725}} % Blue cell

\makeatletter
\@ifundefined{showcaptionsetup}{}{\PassOptionsToPackage{caption=false}{subfig}}
\usepackage{subfig}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\begin{table*}
	\setlength\tabcolsep{2pt}
	\hspace*{\fill}
	\begin{tabular}{ccccccccccccccccccccccc}
		& {\scriptsize{}aero} & {\scriptsize{}bicycle} & {\scriptsize{}bird} & {\scriptsize{}boat} & {\scriptsize{}bottle} & {\scriptsize{}bus} & {\scriptsize{}car} & {\scriptsize{}cat} & {\scriptsize{}chair} & {\scriptsize{}cow} & {\scriptsize{}table} & {\scriptsize{}dog} & {\scriptsize{}horse} & {\scriptsize{}mbike} & {\scriptsize{}person} & {\scriptsize{}plant} & {\scriptsize{}sheep} & {\scriptsize{}sofa} & {\scriptsize{}train} & {\scriptsize{}tv} & {\scriptsize{}\quad{}} & {\scriptsize{}mean}\tabularnewline
		\hline 
		{\scriptsize{}LM-LLDA }\texttt{\scriptsize{}Dense} & {\scriptsize{}33.7} & {\scriptsize{}61.3} & {\scriptsize{}12.4} & {\scriptsize{}18.5} & {\scriptsize{}26.7} & {\scriptsize{}53.0} & {\scriptsize{}57.2} & {\scriptsize{}22.4} & {\scriptsize{}22.7} & {\scriptsize{}25.6} & {\scriptsize{}25.1} & {\scriptsize{}14.0} & {\scriptsize{}59.2} & {\scriptsize{}51.0} & {\scriptsize{}39.1} & {\scriptsize{}13.6} & {\scriptsize{}21.7} & {\scriptsize{}38.0} & {\scriptsize{}48.8} & {\scriptsize{}44.0} &  & {\scriptsize{}34.4}\tabularnewline
		\hline 
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Bing} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-23.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-8.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-17.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-15.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-19.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-19.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-16.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-18.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-18.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.0} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln-11.9}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}CPMC} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-15.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp3.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.6} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp5.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-2.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.6} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.9} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.7}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\textbf{\scriptsize{}EdgeBoxes}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-2.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-6.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}0.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-5.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-2.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.6} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.4} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-1.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-0.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.9} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.1} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-2.2}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Endres} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-1.5}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{\textbf{\scriptsize{}-5.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-0.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-4.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-12.7}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-1.1}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-7.1}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}3.4}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-6.9}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.2}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}4.7}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}1.9}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-2.4}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-2.4}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-7.7}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-2.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-1.9}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}1.5}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}0.4}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-4.2}} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-2.7}}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\textbf{\scriptsize{}Geodesic}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-8.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-14.4} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-1.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp4.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}1.9} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.2} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-2.2}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\textbf{\scriptsize{}MCG}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-6.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp3.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp5.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-1.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-1.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-1.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}0.5} &  & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-1.4}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Objectness} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-15.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-2.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-11.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-11.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-15.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-5.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-11.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-12.9} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.0}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Rahtu} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-1.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-12.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp3.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-5.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.7} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.0}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Rand.Prim} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\textbf{\scriptsize{}2.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.4} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp5.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-5.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.4} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.5}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Rantalankila} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}0.5}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-13.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}0.3}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.0}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-12.9}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-9.0}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}4.4}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-5.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.7}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}4.1}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}2.5}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-2.2}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-4.0}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-7.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-2.5}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\foreignlanguage{english}{\textbf{\scriptsize{}2.1}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-1.5}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-0.7}} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.0}}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\textbf{\scriptsize{}Rigor}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.9} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-12.4} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\textbf{\scriptsize{}6.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.9} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\textbf{\scriptsize{}2.9} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-0.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.6} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.7} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-2.3}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\textbf{\scriptsize{}SelectiveSearch}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\textbf{\scriptsize{}1.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-11.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp3.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\textbf{\scriptsize{}5.4} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.1} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\textbf{\scriptsize{}-2.1}\tabularnewline
		\hline 
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Gaussian} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-13.4} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-15.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-16.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-8.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz1.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-6.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-12.1} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\emph{\scriptsize{}-6.4}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}SlidingWindow} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-21.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-20.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-8.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-16.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-14.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-22.1} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-11.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-14.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-20.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-14.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-21.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-20.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-14.8} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln-12.9}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Superpixels} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-23.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-52.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-3.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-9.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-17.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-43.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-42.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-11.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-12.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-15.8} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-8.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-50.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-41.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-30.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.4} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.6} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-25.2} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-39.7} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-8.2} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln-23.1}\tabularnewline
		\texttt{\scriptsize{}Uniform} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.2}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-18.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-4.0}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-4.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-15.2}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-8.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-16.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}0.2}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-10.4}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-8.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}3.7}} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}1.3}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-6.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-11.3}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-10.2}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-3.6}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-8.9}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-5.8}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-5.1}} & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-20.2}} &  & {\scriptsize{}\celln}\foreignlanguage{english}{{\scriptsize{}-7.8}}\tabularnewline
		\hline 
		{\scriptsize{}Top methods avg.} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.3} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.4} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.1} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-10.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-7.2} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp3.0} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellp2.0} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.9} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-2.5} & {\scriptsize{}\celln-4.6} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-1.5} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.8} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz0.7} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.3} & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-0.8} &  & {\scriptsize{}\cellz-2.0}\tabularnewline
	\end{tabular}\hspace*{\fill}
	\protect\caption{\label{tab:pascal-llda-dpm-per-class}LM-LLDA detection results on
		PASCAL 2007 (with bounding box regression). The top row indicates
		the average precision (AP) of LM-LLDA alone, while the other rows
		show the difference in AP when adding proposal methods. Green indicates
		improvement of at least $2\,\mbox{AP}$, blue indicates minor change
		($-2\le\text{AP}<2$), and white indicates a decrease by more than
		$2\,\mbox{AP}$. \texttt{Edge\-Boxes} achieves top results on 6 of
		the 20 categories; \texttt{MCG} performs best overall with -1.4 mAP
		loss.}
\end{table*}
\end{document}

As can be seen, they mainly used the \cellcolor command provided by colortbl package3 to define two new control commands, \cellp and \cellz, in the preamble area to color the table cell to green and blue.

It should be noted that, \cellcolor command only changes the background color of the table cell, rather than put a colorful box, which occupies a certain amount of space, in the cell. So, there is no input parameter for \cellcolor command (and hence newly defined command \cellp and \cellz).

When creating the table, the authors used a lot of two commands repeatedly, i.e., \foreignlanguage{english}{} and \scriptsize{}. Command \foreignlanguage is from babel package4 imported in the preamble area. The babel package is to “manage culturally-determined typographical (and other) rules for a wide range of languages”4. Jan Hosang is a German5, so I think he had his own considerations to use this package, but here it’s OK if I delete them.

As for \scriptsize{}, it is used to change font size. I try to define a new environment ScriptFont, and put the table in it, to avoid using \scriptsize{} time and time again, like:

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\documentclass[english,british,10pt,journal,compsoc]{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{colortbl}

\newcommand\celln{ }
\newcommand\cellp{\cellcolor[rgb]{0.8510, 0.9176, 0.8275}}
\newcommand\cellz{\cellcolor[rgb]{0.7882, 0.8549, 0.9725}}

\makeatletter
\@ifundefined{showcaptionsetup}{}{\PassOptionsToPackage{caption=false}{subfig}}
\usepackage{subfig}
\makeatother

% Self-defined environment `ScriptFont`
\newenvironment{ScriptFont}{\scriptsize}{\normalsize}

\begin{document}
	\begin{table*}
		\setlength\tabcolsep{2pt}
		\hspace*{\fill}
		\begin{ScriptFont}
		\begin{tabular}{ccccccccccccccccccccccc}
			& aero & bicycle & bird & boat & bottle & bus & car & cat & chair & cow & table & dog & horse & mbike & person & plant & sheep & sofa & train & tv & \quad{} & mean \tabularnewline
			\hline 
			LM-LLDA \texttt{Dense} & 33.7 & 61.3 & 12.4 & 18.5 & 26.7 & 53.0 & 57.2 & 22.4 & 22.7 & 25.6 & 25.1 & 14.0 & 59.2 & 51.0 & 39.1 & 13.6 & 21.7 & 38.0 & 48.8 & 44.0 & & 34.4 \tabularnewline
			\hline 
			\texttt{Bing} & \celln-7.5 & \celln-23.2 & \celln-6.2 & \celln-8.1 & \celln-10.6 & \celln-13.3 & \celln-17.5 & \celln-6.8 & \celln-9.8 & \celln-15.4 & \celln-7.5 & \cellz-1.4 & \celln-19.6 & \celln-19.0 &\celln-16.1 & \celln-3.4 & \celln-6.6 & \celln-18.1 & \celln-18.8 & \celln-10.0 & & \celln-11.9 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{CPMC} & \cellz-1.0 & \celln-15.0 & \cellz-0.2 & \celln-4.4 & \celln-13.5 & \cellz-1.8 & \celln-9.2 & \cellp3.2 & \celln-9.1 & \celln-2.6 & \cellp5.1 & \cellp2.2 & \celln-4.2 & \celln-4.8 & \celln-7.0 & \cellz-2.0 & \celln-2.6 & \cellz1.2 & \celln-4.1 & \celln-4.9 & & \celln-3.7 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{\textbf{EdgeBoxes}} & \cellz-2.0 & \celln-6.1 & \cellz-0.7 & \celln-3.8 & \celln\textbf{-6.7} & \cellz\textbf{0.6} & \celln\textbf{-5.8} & \cellz-1.1 & \cellz\textbf{-2.0} & \cellz-1.8 & \celln-4.6 & \cellz0.4 & \cellz-1.3 & \cellz\textbf{-1.3} & \celln-3.0 & \cellz-1.7 & \cellz\textbf{-0.1} & \cellz-0.9 & \cellz-0.2 & \cellz-1.1 & & \celln\textbf{-2.2} \tabularnewline
			\texttt{Endres} & \cellz-1.5 & \celln\textbf{-5.8} & \cellz-0.6 & \celln-4.8 & \celln-12.7 & \cellz-1.1 & \celln-7.1 & \cellp3.4 & \celln-6.9 & \celln-3.2 & \cellp4.7 & \cellz1.9 & \celln-2.4 & \celln-2.4 & \celln-7.7 & \celln-2.8 & \cellz-1.9 & \cellz1.5 & \cellz0.4 & \celln-4.2 & & \celln-2.7 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{\textbf{Geodesic}} & \cellz-1.9 & \celln-8.1 & \cellz-0.2 & \celln-4.6 & \celln-14.4 & \cellz0.6 & \celln-6.5 & \cellp2.6 & \celln-7.3 & \cellz\textbf{-1.3} & \cellp4.7 & \cellp2.4 & \celln-2.5 & \celln-2.7 & \celln-4.7 & \cellz-1.2 & \cellz-0.7 & \cellz-0.1 & \cellz\textbf{1.9} & \cellz0.2 & & \celln\textbf{-2.2} \tabularnewline
			\texttt{\textbf{MCG}} & \cellz-0.7 & \celln-7.2 &\cellz0.1 & \celln-3.6 & \celln\textbf{-6.7} & \cellz-1.2 & \celln-7.0 & \cellp3.4 & \celln-3.2 & \celln-2.3 & \cellp5.0 & \cellz1.9 & \celln-3.5 & \cellz\textbf{-1.3} & \cellz\textbf{-1.5} & \cellz\textbf{-1.1} & \cellz-1.3 & \cellp2.2 & \cellz0.3 & \cellz\textbf{0.5} & & \cellz\textbf{-1.4} \tabularnewline
			\texttt{Objectness} & \celln-10.3 & \celln-15.1 & \cellz-2.0 & \celln-6.2 & \celln-11.0 & \celln-9.5 & \celln-13.0 & \celln-3.6 & \celln-10.0 & \celln-6.4 & \celln-7.8 & \cellz-1.0 & \celln-11.6 & \celln-15.9 & \celln-13.0 & \celln-2.7 & \celln-5.8 & \celln-11.2 & \celln-10.9 & \celln-12.9 & & \celln-9.0 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{Rahtu} & \cellz-0.3 & \celln-13.2 & \cellz-0.3 & \cellz\textbf{-1.2} & \celln-13.0 & \cellz-0.6 & \celln-12.0 & \cellp3.3 & \celln-10.5 & \celln-4.3 & \cellp2.0 & \cellp2.1 & \celln-3.2 & \celln-4.9 & \celln-7.9 & \celln-2.8 & \celln-4.9 & \celln-5.0 & \cellz0.0 & \celln-3.7 & & \celln-4.0 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{Rand.Prim} & \cellp\textbf{2.1} & \celln-10.4 & \cellz-0.5 & \celln-4.5 & \celln-13.2 & \cellz-1.9 & \celln-10.1 & \cellp5.0 & \celln-6.7 & \celln-3.5 & \cellp2.0 & \cellp2.4 & \celln-4.4 & \celln-5.1 & \celln-10.0 & \celln-2.3 & \cellz-1.8 & \cellz1.2 & \celln-3.8 & \celln-4.4 & & \celln-3.5 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{Rantalankila} & \cellz0.5 & \celln-13.6 & \cellz0.3 & \celln-3.0 & \celln-12.9 & \celln-3.6 & \celln-9.0 & \cellp4.4 & \celln-5.6 & \celln-3.7 & \cellp4.1 & \cellp2.5 & \celln-2.2 & \celln-4.0 & \celln-7.8 & \celln-2.5 & \celln-3.8 & \cellp\textbf{2.1} & \cellz-1.5 & \cellz-0.7 & & \celln-3.0 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{\textbf{Rigor}} & \cellz1.7 & \celln-7.9 & \cellz0.5 & \celln-4.1 & \celln-12.4 & \cellz-0.8 & \celln-9.0 & \cellp\textbf{6.3} & \celln-6.9 & \cellz-1.7 & \cellz1.8 & \cellp\textbf{2.9} & \cellz\textbf{-0.9} & \celln-3.3 & \celln-7.7 & \cellz-1.8 & \cellz-1.3 & \cellz1.6 & \cellz-1.2 & \cellz-1.7 & & \celln\textbf{-2.3} \tabularnewline
			\texttt{\textbf{SelectiveSearch}} & \cellz1.3 & \celln-7.7 & \cellz\textbf{1.0} & \celln-4.3 & \celln-11.1 & \cellz-1.7 & \celln-7.8 & \cellp3.9 & \celln-4.8 & \cellz-1.5 & \cellp\textbf{5.4} & \cellp2.2 & \cellz-1.4 & \celln-3.8 & \celln-6.0 & \cellz-1.5 & \cellz-0.8 & \cellz0.6 & \celln-2.4 & \celln-2.1 & & \celln\textbf{-2.1} \tabularnewline	
			\hline 
			\texttt{Gaussian} & \celln-6.6 & \celln-13.4 & \cellz-0.7 & \celln-4.4 & \celln-15.0 & \celln-6.1 & \celln-16.0 & \cellz0.9 & \celln-9.1 & \celln-8.0 & \cellz0.3 & \cellz1.2 & \celln-4.2 & \celln-6.9 & \celln-10.3 & \celln-2.3 & \celln-6.5 & \celln-4.5 & \celln-3.6 & \celln-12.1 & & \celln\emph{-6.4} \tabularnewline
			\texttt{SlidingWindow} & \celln-21.8 & \celln-20.7 & \celln-3.2 & \celln-8.1 & \celln-16.6 & \celln-14.7 & \celln-22.1 & \cellz-0.7 & \celln-9.8 & \celln-11.7 & \celln-10.2 & \cellz-1.4 & \celln-14.7 & \celln-20.1 & \celln-14.8 & \celln-3.8 & \celln-7.7 & \celln-21.0 & \celln-20.8 & \celln-14.8 & & \celln-12.9 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{Superpixels} & \celln-23.9 & \celln-52.2 & \celln-3.1 & \celln-9.4 & \celln-17.4 & \celln-43.9 & \celln-42.3 & \celln-10.2 & \celln-11.3 & \celln-12.6 & \celln-15.8 & \celln-8.5 & \celln-50.1 & \celln-41.7 & \celln-30.9 & \celln-4.4 & \celln-10.6 & \celln-25.2 & \celln-39.7 & \celln-8.2 & & \celln-23.1 \tabularnewline
			\texttt{Uniform} & \celln-3.2 & \celln-18.8 & \celln-4.0 & \celln-4.8 & \celln-15.2 & \celln-8.6 & \celln-16.6 & \cellz0.2 & \celln-10.4 & \celln-8.8 & \cellp3.7 & \cellz1.3 & \celln-6.6 & \celln-11.3 & \celln-10.2 & \celln-3.6 & \celln-8.9 & \celln-5.8 & \celln-5.1 & \celln-20.2 & & \celln-7.8 \tabularnewline
			\hline 
			Top methods avg. & \cellz-0.3 & \celln-7.4 & \cellz0.1 & \celln-4.1 & \celln-10.2 & \cellz-0.5 & \celln-7.2 & \cellp3.0 & \celln-4.8 & \cellz-1.7 & \cellp2.5 & \cellp2.0 & \cellz-1.9 & \celln-2.5 & \celln-4.6 & \cellz-1.5 & \cellz-0.8 & \cellz0.7 & \cellz-0.3 & \cellz-0.8 & & \cellz-2.0 \tabularnewline
		\end{tabular}\hspace*{\fill}
	\end{ScriptFont}
		\protect\caption{\label{tab:pascal-llda-dpm-per-class}LM-LLDA detection results on PASCAL 2007 (with bounding box regression). The top row indicates the average precision (AP) of LM-LLDA alone, while the other rows show the difference in AP when adding proposal methods. Green indicates improvement of at least $2\,\mbox{AP}$, blue indicates minor change ($-2\le\text{AP}<2$), and white indicates a decrease by more than $2\,\mbox{AP}$. \texttt{Edge\-Boxes} achieves top results on 6 of the 20 categories; \texttt{MCG} performs best overall with -1.4 mAP loss.}
	\end{table*}
\end{document}

However, the generated table is:

image-20240501220531064

It can be seen that, at this time, the ScriptFont environment not only changes the font size of contents in the table, but also changes the line space, making the table more compact but sort of bad-looking.

So, anyway, Hosang’s method is more preferable.


References

  1. The Metrics of Average Precision (AP) and Average Recall (AR) in Object Detection Tasks. ˄

  2. Hosang, Jan, et al. “What makes for effective detection proposals?.” IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence 38.4 (2015): 814-830, available at: [1502.05082] What makes for effective detection proposals?. ˄ ˄2

  3. CTAN: Package colortbl. ˄

  4. CTAN: Package babel. ˄ ˄2

  5. Jan Hosang. ˄