Objectives of this Tutorial

Generally: To create advanced table layouts and effects.

Specifically: On completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Add a table within a table
• Set table and cell properties, such as alignment, padding and spacing
• Centre an image or text within a table cell
• Apply table borders
• Add background shading or an image to an entire table and to individual table cells

As well as being used to present tabular information, tables can be used to create the layout of a web page. The advantage of using a table over techniques such as positioning is that tables are supported by a wider range of browsers.

By using tables you can set fixed page widths and heights, align pictures and text and design shading and border effects around a page.

Note: If you are publishing your pages to the web, you will still need to test your pages in a variety of browsers when using tables. Some browsers may interpret complex tables slightly differently. You also need to test your page at different screen resolutions and with different sized browser windows.

Insert a Table Within a Table

Adding a table within another table allows you to create very complex layouts.

To insert a table within another table

• Click in the cell where you want the new table to be positioned

• From the Table menu, select Insert then Table...

The Insert Table dialogue box is displayed.

Insert Table dialogue box

• Enter the properties as required for the new table
• Click OK

Below is an example of a table within another table.

Example of a table within another table

Tip: You can also insert a table within a table using the Insert Table button . However you cannot use the Draw Table tool to insert a table.

Set Table Properties

Tables have many properties that control how they appear on the page.

Note: Table cells always expand to fit any text, graphics or sub-tables you put in them. If you want to make a table a precise number of pixels wide or high, you will need to plan the content carefully.

To modify table properties

• Select the table then from the Table menu, select Properties... then Table

OR

• Right-click the table and from the shortcut menu, select Table Properties

To modify table or cell properties

You can also specify the width and height attributes of rows and columns. If you have specified a width for the table, the table measurements override the preferred cell widths. You can enter measurements as a percentage of the table size or as a fixed number of pixels.

• Select the row(s) or column(s) then from the Table menu, select Properties... then Cell

OR

• Right-click the selected cell(s) and from the shortcut menu, select Cell Properties

Align Cell Contents

As with a table in a word processing document, you can align cell contents relative to the horizontal and vertical borders.

To align cell contents using the toolbars

• Select the cell(s) to align
• On the Formatting toolbar, click a horizontal alignment button

Vertical alignment can be set using the Tables toolbar.

• If the toolbar is not displayed, from the View menu, select Toolbars then Tables

Tables toolbar

• Click a button

To align cell contents using the menu

• Select the cell(s) to align
• From the Table menu, select Properties then Cell...

The Cell Properties dialogue box is displayed.

Cell Properties dialogue box

• From the Horizontal alignment list box, select Left, Right, Center or Justify
• From the Vertical alignment list box, select Top, Middle, Baseline or Bottom
• Click OK

Continued...