diff --git a/docs/build_notebooks.jl b/docs/build_notebooks.jl
index af554a1..eb6982c 100644
--- a/docs/build_notebooks.jl
+++ b/docs/build_notebooks.jl
@@ -1,49 +1,141 @@
-cd(dirname(@__FILE__)) do
+# Automatically run notebooks and generate rst table for results
 
-k = 0
-results = Dict[]
-for ipynb in readdir("tutorials")
-    tic()
-    if !endswith(ipynb, "ipynb")
-        continue
-    end
-    runtime = 0
-    status = 1
-    println("Running notebook tutorials/$ipynb")
-    port = 34211+k
-    k += 1
-    try
-        run(`runipy -o tutorials/$ipynb --kernel=julia-0.4 --port=$port`)
-        status = 0
-    catch
-        println("did not work")
-    end
-    runtime = toc()
-    run(`ipython nbconvert tutorials/$ipynb --to rst --output=tutorials/$(ipynb[1:end-6])`)
-    println("took $runtime seconds")
-    push!(results, Dict("filename" => ipynb, "status" => status, "runtime" => runtime))
-end
-
-function write_login_markdown(preamble, results, footer,filename="tutorials/README.md")
-    open(filename, "w") do f
-        write(f, preamble)
-        for (index, each) in enumerate(results)
-            write(f, """|$(index)|$(each["filename"])|$(round(each["runtime"], 2))|$(each["status"])|
-""")
+function run_notebooks()
+    k = 0
+    results = Dict[]
+    cd(dirname(@__FILE__)) do
+        for ipynb in readdir("tutorials")
+            tic()
+            if !endswith(ipynb, "ipynb")
+                continue
+            end
+            runtime = 0
+            status = 1
+            println("Running notebook tutorials/$ipynb")
+            port = 34211+k  # we're having some weird port issue with zmq
+            k += 1
+            try
+                run(`runipy -o tutorials/$ipynb --kernel=julia-0.4 --port=$port`)
+                status = 0
+            catch
+                println("did not work")
+            end
+            runtime = toc()
+            run(`ipython nbconvert tutorials/$ipynb --to rst --output=tutorials/$(ipynb[1:end-6])`)
+            #println("took $runtime seconds")
+            data = Dict("author" => "unknown", "status" => status, "runtime" => runtime,
+                        "filename" => ipynb, "last_run" => time(), "description"=>"")
+            push!(results, data)
+        end
+    end
+    return results
+end
+
+"""
+Make rows from results ready to tabular form
+"""
+function makerows(results)
+    rows = ["id" "author" "description" "last run" "runtime (s)" "status" "html" "pdf"]
+    for (i, data) in enumerate(results)
+        row = ["na" "unknown" "unknown" "unknown" "unknown" "unknown" "na" "na"]
+        println(i)
+        row[1] = string(i)
+        desc = data["description"]
+        if desc == ""
+            desc = data["filename"]
+        end
+        row[3] = desc
+        row[4] = Libc.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", data["last_run"])
+        row[5] = string(round(data["runtime"], 2))
+        if data["status"] == 0
+            row[6] = "PASS"
+        else
+            row[6] = "FAIL"
+        end
+        fn = data["filename"][1:end-6]*".rst"
+        row[7] = ":doc:`html <$fn>`"
+        fn = data["filename"][1:end-6]*".pdf"
+        row[8] = ":download:`html <$fn>`"
+        rows = vcat(rows, row)
+    end
+    return rows
+end
+
+
+"""
+write rst table. rows is array of arrays.
+
+Expected output
+
+    +----+-----------+------------------------------+------------+---------+--------+------+-----+
+    | id | author    | description                  | last run   | runtime  | status | html | pdf |
+    +====+===========+==============================+============+=========+========+======+=====+
+    |  1 | Jukka Aho | This is placeholder notebook | 2015-07-05 | 123.45  | |pass| | html | pdf |
+    +----+-----------+------------------------------+------------+---------+--------+------+-----+
+
+
+"""
+function write_rst_table(rows)
+    # determine cell lenghts
+    lenghts = zeros(Int, size(rows))
+    for i=1:size(rows, 1)
+        for j=1:size(rows, 2)
+            lenghts[i,j] = length(rows[i,j])+3
+        end
+    end
+    #println(lenghts)
+    cl = maximum(lenghts, 1)  # maximum column lenghts
+    tl = sum(cl)+1  # total table width
+    mp = [1 cumsum(cl, 2)+1] # marker points "+"
+    println(mp)
+    #println(cl)
+    #println(tl)
+
+    function sep(l, m; s="+", d="-")
+        p = ""
+        for j=1:l
+            if j in m
+                p *= s
+            else
+                p *= d
+            end
+        end
+        p *= "\n"
+        return p
+    end
+
+    s = ""
+    # write rows
+    s *= sep(tl, mp)
+    for i = 1:size(rows, 1)
+        s *= "|"
+        for j=1:size(rows, 2)
+            s *= " " * rows[i, j] * " "
+            s *= repeat(" ", cl[j]-lenghts[i,j])
+            s *= "|"
+        end
+        s *= "\n"
+        if i == 1
+            s *= sep(tl, mp; d="=")
+        else
+            s *= sep(tl, mp)
+        end
+    end
+    return s
+end
+
+
+function main(;filename="tutorials/notebooks.rst")
+    results = run_notebooks()
+    rows = makerows(results)
+    table = write_rst_table(rows)
+    println(table)
+    cd(dirname(@__FILE__)) do
+        open(filename, "w") do fid
+            write(fid, table)
         end
-        write(f, footer)
     end
 end
 
 
-preamble = """##Notebooks
-
-| id | Notebook | Runtime | Status|
-|----|----------|---------|-------|
-"""
-footer = """
-"""
-
-write_login_markdown(preamble, results, footer)
-
-end
+main()