Working with Tables in Netscape Composer 7.x
- CSI Staff
- Staff Writer
- Center for Support of Instruction
Category: » Tech-skills-software » Netscape-composer
This page reviews use of Netscape Composer version 7.0x (which is included with the Netscape browser) to insert, format, and edit tables in webpages to be published to the Web or used to paste HTML directly into WebTycho text boxes. (Note: Netscape 8 does not include Composer. You can, however, still download Netscape 7 from Netcape's archive page.)
Tables are important design elements used in pages formatted for the Web; they are used to
- manage tabular text and/or data
- help position text and images (table borders need not be visible)
- add visual impact to headings or other text, via background color and/or borders
- get around WebTycho's de facto ban on displaying a colored page background in HTML that is pasted into classroom textboxes.
Open your HTML page in Composer
Open a webpage in Netscape's HTML editor, Composer, using one of the 3 methods shown on the page, How to Use Composer.
Insert a New Table and Specify its Properties
To insert a table, position your cursor where you want the table to reside. Select the Table 
icon or Insert-->Table. on Composer's "Composition" toolbar.
The Insert Table window opens to the default view shown below-left.
When inserting a new table, look at and set all parts of the properties window according to your needs and preferences, then select OK, and the table will be inserted into your page.
Number of rows and columns — as you require.
Width allows you to select how wide you want the table to be in relation to the width of your page.
Border line width should be 0 pixels for an invisible table, 1 or more pixels for a border that shows.
Using Background Colors in Webpages
Use Web-safe colors
Not all colors used in webpages look the same in all web browsers. To be sure your table background color will look as you expect in a variety of browsers, use "web-safe" colors designed to look similar in most browsers. Netscape Composer's initial color palette contains 49 web-safe colors. If you select "Other" in the initial color palette window to create and choose other background colors than those shown, they are not likely to be web-safe.
For other web-safe colors, see this chart: http://html-color-codes.com/. To insert one of the web-safe background color code shown here into your table, select the Extra HTML button in the Table Properties window and type bgcolor="#hexcode", where "hex code" stands for the 6-digit code associated with the color in the chart. (Be sure to include the # symbol and the open and close quotation marks.)
Consider printing issues
Dark or bright background colors use a lot of ink in printers and may also make it difficult to read even light-colored text in hard copies of your page. Also, since not all printers print color, use only a few colors that will be distinguishable in gray scale. In general, use colors sparingly in backgrounds, especially in large-size tables.
Don't set whole-page background colors for pasting HTML into WebTycho
WebTycho does not allow inclusion of body tags <BODY> and </BODY> when pasting HTML into WebTycho. Since whole-page background color information is placed inside a page's BODY tags, this means you may not include a page background color in HTML-formatted text you paste into WebTycho. However, WebTycho has no restrictions on table colors. Placing your text in a full-size table containing a background color is a way to add background color to html-formatted text that you paste into WebTycho.
Edit the Table's Structural Properties
To edit a table, right-click in the table to open a properties mini-menu and select Table Cell Properties. Or select Format-->Table Cell Properties.
Use the Table Properties dialog box to edit the Table format as a whole, or use the Cell tab to format parts of the table.
Table Tab
Table width. In general, if specifying width in % of window, make the percentage 95% or less to avoid a crowded look on your page (the exception is if the table is inserted at an indent). If specifying width in pixels, stay under 650 pixels, or the rightmost part of the table will be cut off when printed.
Cell spacing should be 1 or more pixels for a double-lined border, 0 pixels for a single-lined border.
Cell padding should be 3-5 pixels or so for adequate spacing around text inside a cell.
Table alignment should normally be Left or Center. You may use the "increase indent" icon on the formatting toolbar to indent the cursor position before inserting a new table, to provide left and right margins outside a table whose borders are set at 100%.
Set Table Background Color by clicking the button to the right of Background Color: to open a color palette. Choose a color then select OK. In general, light backgrounds look best online.
Background colors may be set for individual rows or cells as well as for the table as a whole. Cell color supercedes row color, which supercedes table color.
Cell Tab
When you wish to format a particular row, cell or column, use the drop-down menu to select the correct part of the table you wish to modify.
When you want to make a change to all cells of table, right-click to get the mini-menu. Select Table Select-->All Cells. This will highlight all the cells in the table.
Once you have selected all the cells, you will need to right-click again to get the mini-menu. Select Table Cell Properties.
Table height can usually be be left blank. Check the table height box if you want your table to be a specific height. Otherwise the table will adjust according to the height of your text.
Table Navigation and Management Hints
Move between cells... position cursor in cell
It is sometimes difficult to determine the insertion point in a blank cell. Use your keyboard arrow keys or the tab key to move from cell to cell.
- Entire table: Select Table-->Select Table.
- One row or cell (structural properties): Right-click inside the row or cell, then select Table Select, then the Row or Cell tab.
- One or several rows or cells (text properties): Click/drag mouse to highlight cells.
Drag vertical table borders to resize table width
Select the table. Position the cursor over one of the black squares. This will allow you to increase the width and height of the table. You cannot drag any of the internal or horizontal lines of a table in Composer. Column, row, and cell height and width are generally set in the Table Properties (Format) window.
Insert table columns, rows, or cells by clicking in the cell above or to the left of where you wish the insertion, selecting Table-->Insert, then one of the menu items.
Or right-click in the cell and select Table Insert from the mini-menu.
Delete table or table columns, rows, or cells by selecting the table or clicking in a cell and selecting from the Table-->Delete. Or right-click in the cell in the table and select Table Delete from the submenu.
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