LESSON 8a -- TABLES -- FIXED SIZE

An added capability I picked up from this lesson has been the specification of a graphic background for part of my Table (in this case the top row). I simply nested a 1-cell table within that cell, and specified a background file. I thank WebMinotaur for showing that it can be done.

It would seem logical to let the author specify the height of each row and the width of each column. Controlling the width of columns is what is most important to me; controlling vertical height of rows is usually secondary.

Documentation indicates that column widths can be specified with the colgroup command. I tested that approach in the small table below this one. While the width= attribute of the colgroup command DOES work on Netscape 6.1, it DOES NOT work on IE4.5 installed on my iMac (despite the fact that the colgroup command is documented as implemented on IE 3.0 or higher).

It is not documented, but I CAN control the width of cells (columns???) by a width= attribute in the table data tag. That is what I have done in this table.

You will see, in both tables, that I was able to control the HEIGHT (or at least the minimum height) of each row by inserting a narrow, placeholder column in the table, with a nested table of width="1" and height="nn" in that placeholder column. That seems to work. I probably would not have needed it if I hadn't specified a height= for the table as a whole.

Later I will have to test what happens if I specify column (or data cell widths) AND control height by a maximum table height coupled with placeholder nested tables AND place more data in a cell than will fit in that space. My guess is that different browsers would deal with it in different ways.