I'm in the process of adding multiple tables to my site (mostly for color blocking) and looking for suggestions. Most important, I'd like to save the characteristics of a table, so I don't have to create it again and again. I'd even be happy if the editor would just store all the details of the last table, rather than reverting to the starting place of "3 columns" etc. I checked the forums for help with this and noticed there was talk about the browser effecting table building. I'm using Firefox.

Also, sometimes my newly constructed table will attach itself to the table above it. I can't seem to get the cursor outside the table, so I can enter a horizontal space. It seems the only way to put a space between the two tables at that point is to delete the newly created "stuck" version, put more spaces in the edit window, position my cursor in the center of it all, then start again. All of this sure is time consuming, when you are looking to add 40 or 50 tables.

A third issue, I'm not thrilled with the limited color choices available for the table fill option. When I entered colors for the main background in "Change Colors", I could just enter the color code, but when I put the code in the box for tables, nothing happens.

While we're talking about this, would you also remind me what the maximum width is for tables placed next to the right modules and the maxim for the Contents without right modules ?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi Ruth,

Tables are difficult to manage in the visual editor. You'll just have to try playing around with the content, clicking in different places and on different things and seeing what happens whan you type. The only alternative is to click the Source button and edit the code directly.

Here is the information on width limitations:

HOME PAGE: Do not upload images or embed objects on your home page wider than 420 pixels. Your home page is in columns and images can't be too big here. If a third party object exceeds 420 pixels, press the Source button in the upper left corner of your editor to adjust the width and height so your object does not exceed 420 pixels.

ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH NO BULLETS: Images and third party objects inserted into your Announcements area must be 398 pixels wide or smaller.

ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH BULLETS: Images and third party objects inserted into your Announcements area must be 390 pixels wide or smaller if you have turned on the auto bullet feature, which places a bullet before each of your Announcements.

SUB PAGES: Do not upload images or embed objects on your sub pages wider than 646 pixels. Your sub pages have precisely 646 pixels of space available for content, so if you upload an image or embed an object exactly 646 pixels wide it will fill the entire page body area except for a small default margin area to the left and the right.

USER FORUMS: Do not upload images or embed objects on your User Forum posts wider than 449 pixels.

Eric, would you take a look at my homepage? I've set it up so the Greeting "Announcement" balances with the blocks on the right side. That way, I can make a wider block for content in the area below. This was working pretty well, until recently when I did something that pushed my welcome announcement down the page. I've dealt with this before so I knew to check width. Everything in the Welcome Announcement was under 419 so I didn't understand. Could it be that the border size needs to be added to the size of the inserted box? Just in case, I made the announcement smaller. It didn't help. Then I made a bunch of changes and I couldn't say which one worked, but the announcement block is back up where it should be. The only problem is, there's a vertical space between the welcome announcement and the column on the right. Additionally the whole page is "hanging over" the header at the top.

For my non-logged in page, the announcement looks the same as logged in, except there is no smiley waving. For logged in...he's right there! How the heck did I do that? If I want to move or remove "smiley" I don't know where he is to edit him!

Maybe I've got the content at the bottom too wide? I've adjusted that several times, but I'm shooting in the dark, as I'm not sure how wide that content should be, when there's no right side vertical announcements to account for.

Any suggestions would be welcomed!

Ruth,

Your home page content has tables within tables within tables. The overall complexity of it is such that it would simply take more time than I have available to find the source of and correct the anomalies you'd like to fix -- UNLESS: you use the "Edit Announcements" link to create individual announcements to contain portions of the home page content rather than having it all be in the main content area. This will allow you to switch off and on, and reorder the sections. This is particularly useful when something you've added or changed causes a problem and you can't figure out where. You can go through and selectively turn off individual announcements and see if the problem goes away, thereby identifying the one that has caused the trouble.

Then you can identify the section where the problem is, and I can address it without having to spend all day sifting through your content.

Sorry if I am missing something. What are tables used for?

Tables are a way to format the text (similar to a spreadsheet) and contents of the page. There are ROWS of data and COLUMNS of data. When a row and column intersect, that is a table cell.