Method  - Designing a Table.

1.  Click inside a Zone where you want your table and then click the "Table" icon to insert a table.

2. Select a Table type. I typically start with a "Generic" style table and then add what I want. (see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1

3. Select the number of columns and rows. (you can alter this even after creating the table.)

Figure 2

4. Once the Table is on the page select it by clicking it and then right click it to get the editing options. (see Figure 2)

You can add and delete columns and rows; merge columns and rows; and set the table alignment. 

You can also set the table Properties.  ( see Figure 3)

Properties Include:

Width and Height of the table - The overall size of your table in pixels.        

Cell Padding - The space between your content and the cell border.

Cell Spacing - The space between the cells of the table.

Border Color - The color of the table border.

Border Width - The thickness of the border.

Use Background Image - Checkbox to indicate you want to use an image as a background.

Image File - The file located in your Image Gallery that will be used for the table background.

Figure 3

 5. And last but not least! The all important "paint bucket"

Select the paint bucket to add color to the background of a cell. Just click inside the cell and then click the paint bucket and select your color.

You can also set the text to a different color by selecting the text and then clicking

By merging cells you can create tables that allow for non-consistent material within them.

1. Let's say I have a table with 4 columns and 4 rows and I want the top row to be one continuous space.

2. I place my cursor in the the far left top cell. and right click and then select "Merge columns".

3. The Merge dialog box appears. Mine's in French for some reason.

4. Not counting the cell you're in, type the number of cells to the right you want merged. In my case I typed "3" and the result was.

J'ai l'amusement !

Examples

 Generic Table

Table with the Border set to white - #ffffff

Used to hide the table but get the advantage of table alignment.

Table with top two cells set to light green-#b5e180 and the Border set to color set to #9f9f9f.

Table with red cell title areas, white text and images.

Red cells and Border set to #c41200

Images centered.

Table with a background image, text over the image and two grey cells.

The cell spacing is set to 4 to give it a segmented look.

This can be used to make a menu. Just hyperlink the text in each box to a new page.

This table has a background image applied and a Border width of 5. The Border color is set to #bfbfbf.

This table has a background applied and could have the slidewhow module in it. I'm not going to put one in because the slideshow module has a nasty habit of causing page errors. I hope MS is working on this as many of you are using the module.

The top row has a black background applied via the paintbucket tool.

Putting It All Together