Change table properties

You can view or set properties for a table, and for its component cells, in the Table Properties dialog box. Many properties affect the entire table at once, no matter which cells are selected; others affect the currently selected cells, as noted below. All table and cell properties except for border colors are analogous to features supported in HTML (version 3.2).

1. Right-click in the table for which you want to view or set properties.

OR

If you plan to view or set properties for only one cell, place your cursor in that cell.

OR

If you plan to view or set properties for a range of cells, select those cells.

2. Choose Properties > Table.

3. On the Borders tab, you can change the following settings for the entire table:

• Cell spacing – the amount of space, in pixels, between each cell and around the edge of the table, minus border highlights and shadows

• Cell padding – the amount of space on all sides, in pixels, between the inside of the cell border and its contents

• Show Borders – whether the gutters around the cells have highlights and shadows that suggest raised ruled lines

• Styles for the Outside border and the Inside border, from none to a full grid

• Width – the amount of external border highlight and shadow, in pixels; a higher number means the table seems to come forward more

• Border Highlight color, if any (the default is light gray)

• Border Shadow color, if any (the default is dark gray)

4. On the Background tab, you can change:

• Whether or not the table or the currently selected cells are Transparent

• A background color to be used when transparency is turned off

5. On the Size & Alignment tab, you can change the following for the currently selected cells:

• Minimum row height (described as minimum because the row height expands until all content in all cells in the row can be displayed), in pixels

• Cell or Column width, in pixels

• Vertical alignment of contents within the cells

6. On the Location tab, you can select whether you want text that follows the table to be placed to the right of the table, to the left of the table, or below the table.

7. Click Apply to see the effect of your changes without dismissing the dialog, or OK to apply them and dismiss the dialog box.

Related Topics

Overview

Notes

• You can also choose Table > Cell Spacing/Cell Padding or Table > Borders to adjust these settings. You can also choose Edit > Properties > Table to display the table's properties.

• CuteSITE Builder table properties include HTML-compatible features such as cell padding, cell spacing, colored table and cell backgrounds, and variable-width borders with separate colors for highlighting and shadows. Any tables brought in from other word processors will be converted to the closest available HTML-like features. Or, for a simpler look, right-click and choose Properties > Table to remove all borders and make all colors transparent, so that content appears in tabular format without any visible lines.

• You can choose colors and transparency settings for both the table and the selected cells at the same time. Wherever they differ, the cell-level settings prevail. The background of each cell affects only the inside of the cell. The background of the table affects not only the insides of cells that do not have their own individual colors, but also the spaces between cells (front faces of table borders), when those are visible. If you use highlighting and shadow colors, make sure they go with the table background color you've chosen.

• Table columns are of fixed-width type. Although cells expand vertically to display all the content that you place in them, columns do not adjust based on their content. If content within a cell (such as a picture or a nested table) is wider than the available space, it will be clipped; you must manually widen the columns to see it all.

• Tables do not resize proportionally to fit the available display space. If a table is larger than the available display space, scroll bars appear.

• You can directly manipulate row and column sizes: hover over their borders until a two-headed arrow appears, and drag to resize. During resizing, exact pixel widths appear in the status bar.

• There are two different types of selection within tables, which provide different and complementary benefits.

• All attributes are independent of each other, and additive. For example, spacing is the result of adding all the separate attributes you have set. Text in a cell can have before and after spacing (between paragraphs only) and horizontal alignment and indents determined by its paragraph style, plus vertical alignment determined by its cell properties, plus cell padding and spacing determined by its table properties.

• To change properties for a single cell, or for an entire table, you do not have to select anything. However, it does no harm to add the extra step to clarify what is selected, especially when you are working with nested tables.