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Dynamic Converter Template Editor Guide
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Formatting
Setting Up Styles to Format the Appearance of
Tables
To use the Tables tab dialog in Formatting to format the appearance of a table, you must
select the element that immediately precedes the table. This has the advantage of letting
you use unique styles for the content of all your tables while retaining the option of
formatting the appearance of the tables differently.
If you plan to format all the tables the same way, you need to identify the styles that
precede the tables in your source documents. Then, when you are ready to use the Tables
tab dialog in Formatting, simply select all the elements based on those styles. Template
Editor lets you format multiple elements simultaneously, and this approach will save you
time.
On the other hand, if you plan to format some tables differently, minimal editing of your
source documents may be required. But you will have much greater control over how your
tables display in your Web pages, as a result.
To set up styles for formatting tables:
1. In your source documents, create a special series of styles named, say, Table1, Table2,
etc. They all can have the same attributes and be based on Normal (their attributes
don’t matter if you use them only for this purpose).
2. Assign these styles to the tables in your documents. For example, you might want
Table1 to be used for certain tables that you want to appear flush left with a blue
border and yellow cell background. Likewise, you might want Table2 to be used for
tables that are to be centered, with extra “padding” to set the cells apart. That is, before
each table in your source document, place the appropriate style. Remember, all you’re
entering is an empty paragraph. So you can minimize the space the paragraph
occupies by setting the font size to 2 or 3 points.
3. Next, create new elements for those styles in your source documents. When you
format the appearance of tables in the Tables tab dialog of Formatting, pick the
appropriate element: Table1, Table2, etc.
Note: You use options in the Character and Paragraph tab dialogs of Formatting to
format the content of tables. You use options in the Tables tab dialog to format the
appearance of tables.