To run the example that generates this table:
{<img src="https://raw.github.com/hunterae/table-for/master/example_table.png">}[http://example.com]

In Gemfile:
  gem "table-for", :git => "git@github.com:hunterae/table-for.git"

  # To be able to generate an admin namespaced controller with a non-admin namespaced model
  gem 'nifty-generators'

  # To make things look a little nicer
  gem 'therubyracer'
  gem 'less-rails' #Sprockets (what Rails 3.1 uses for its asset pipeline) supports LESS
  gem 'twitter-bootstrap-rails'

  # To paginate the list
  gem 'will_paginate', '~> 3.0'

In seeds.rb:
  User.create! :email => "hunterae@gmail.com", :first_name => "Andrew", :last_name => "Hunter"
  User.create! :email => "todd@calltrackingmetrics.com", :first_name => "Todd", :last_name => "Fisher"
  User.create! :email => "jon.phillips@livingsocial.com", :first_name => "Jon", :last_name => "Phillips"

From console:
  bundle install
  rails g nifty:scaffold Admin::User email:string first_name:string last_name:string
  rails generate bootstrap:install less
  rake db:create && rake db:migrate && rake db:seed && rake db:seed && rake db:seed && rake db:seed
  rails s

NOTE:
It does not appear that nifty-generators has been ported over to Rails 4. If you are using Rails 4, you will
need to remove this gem from the Gemfile, and run the following commands from the console instead of the preceding
commands:
  bundle install
  rails generate controller admin/users index
  rails generate model user email:string first_name:string last_name:string
  rails generate bootstrap:install less
  rake db:create && rake db:migrate && rake db:seed && rake db:seed && rake db:seed && rake db:seed
  rails s

In routes.rb:
  namespace :admin do
    resources :users do
      collection do
        match :sort, :to => :index, :via => [:get, :post]
      end
    end
  end

In users_controller.rb (index action)
  @users = User.unscoped
  if params[:order] && ["asc", "desc"].include?(params[:sort_mode])
    order = params[:order].split(",").map {|o| "#{o} #{params[:sort_mode]}" }.join(", ")
    @users = @users.order(order)
  end
  @users = @users.paginate(:per_page => 10, :page => params[:page])

In views/admin/users/index.html.erb
  <%= table_for @users,
        # Specifies the html classes to be applied to the table element
        :table_html => { :class => "table table-hover table-bordered" },

        # Specifies that all columns are sortable by default
        :sortable => true,

        # Specifies the url that header sort links use
        :sort_url => sort_admin_users_path,

        # Specifies the namespace for generating links using Rails routing
        :link_namespace => :admin,

        # Specifies the classes and ids to be applied to each data row
        :data_row_html => {
          # The class of each row will alternate between four Twitter bootstrap classes: "success", "error", "warning", "info"
          :class => lambda { cycle('success', 'error', 'warning', 'info')},

          # Specifies the id using a Proc for each data row as "user-ID_OF_USER_RECORD"
          :id => lambda { |user| "user-#{user.id}" }
        } do |table| %>

    <%# Method 1 for creating a link: Create edit link dynamically by specifying the link_scope globally above as :admin and the link_action as :edit %>
    <% table.column :data => "Modify", :link_action => :edit %>

    <%# Method 2 for creating a link: Create an show link by providing a link_url Proc %>
    <% table.column :data => "Show", :link_url => lambda { |user| admin_user_path(user) } %>

    <%# Method 3 for creating a link: Rely on RESTful routes to generate the link %>
    <% table.column :data => "Show 2.0", :link => true %>

    <%# Outputs the email column of the user; override the default generated header for the column with "Email Address" %>
    <% table.column :email, :header => "Email Address" %>

    <%# Outputs the first name column of the user with the :downcase method applied to it %>
    <% table.column :first_name, :formatter => :downcase %>

    <%# Outputs the last name column of the user using formatter Proc to dynamically specify what is output in the data cell %>
    <% table.column :last_name, :formatter => Proc.new { |last_name| last_name.upcase } %>

    <%# Outputs the created at column of the user applying the strftime method with the argument "%m/%d/%y %I:%M %p" to it %>
    <% table.column :created_at, :formatter => [:strftime, "%m/%d/%y %I:%M %p"] %>

    <%# 
      Outputs the updated_at column of the user
      Overrides the default generated header for the column with the dynamic result of calling it's Proc
      Overrides the default sort-ability by specifying this column as non-sortable
      Overrides the default header html with orange background color
      Dynamically specifies the data for the column with a Proc
        (Note also that the arguments to the Proc are optional and the data record can be accessed via "table.current_row" [or "table.current_record])")
    %>
    <% table.column :updated_at,
                    :header => Proc.new {
                      content_tag(:span, :class => "badge badge-success") do
                        "Last Updated"
                      end
                    },
                    :sortable => false,
                    :header_column_html => { :style => "background-color:orange" },
                    :data => Proc.new { time_ago_in_words table.current_row.updated_at } %>

    <%# 
      The data for the column can also be provided via a block
      Overrides the default generated header for the column with "Full Name" (will itself be overridden below)
      Overrides the default sort field with "last_name" then "first_name"
    %>
    <% table.column :full_name, :header => "Full Name", :order => "last_name, first_name" do |user| %>
      <%= "#{user.first_name} #{user.last_name}" %>
    <% end %>

    <%# Overrides the content for the header of the full_name column %>
    <% table.header :full_name do |column, options| %>
      <%= table.header_sort_link(column, options) do %>
        <span class="label label-important">FULL NAME</span>
      <% end %>
    <% end %>

    <%# 
      Method 3 (again) for creating a link: Rely on RESTful routes to generate the link, with a "delete" method 
      Applies a confirmation to the link
      Specifies the data to display in the column as "Delete"
    %>
    <% table.column :data => "Delete", :link_method => :delete, :link_confirm => "Are you sure?" %>

    <%# Adds a footer that spans all the columns of the table and shows pagination links for the table %>
    <% table.footer do %>
      <div class="pull-right">
        <%= will_paginate @users %>
      </div>
    <% end %>
  <% end %>