Cell width - Wiley Publishing For Dummies HTML for Dummies, pdf

HTML 4 for Dummies, 4th Edition

Whether your goal is to build a simple, text-oriented Web site or one loaded with frames, graphics, and animation, this step- by-step book will put you on the right track.

Table of Contents

HTML 4 For Dummies, 4th Edition Introduction

Part I - Meeting HTML in Its Natural Environment

Chapter 1 - The Least You Need to Know about HTML and the Web Chapter 2 - HTML at Work on the Web

Chapter 3 - Creating Your First HTML Page Part II - Getting Started with HTML

Chapter 4 - Structuring Your HTML Documents Chapter 5 - Linking to Online Resources Chapter 6 - Finding and Using Images

Chapter 7 - Top Off Your Page with Formatting Part III - Taking HTML to the Next Level

Chapter 8 - HTML Tables Chapter 9 - HTML Frames Chapter 10 - HTML Forms

Part IV - Extending HTML with Other Technologies Chapter 11 - Getting Stylish with CSS

Chapter 12 - HTML and Scripting Chapter 13 - Making Multimedia Magic

Chapter 14 - Integrating a Database into Your HTML Chapter 15 - How HTML Relates to Other Markup Languages Part V - From Web Page to Web Site

Chapter 16 - Creating an HTML Toolbox Chapter 17 - Setting Up Your Online Presence Chapter 18 - Creating a Great User Interface Part VI - The Part of Tens

Chapter 19 - Ten Ways to Exterminate Web Bugs Chapter 20 - Ten HTML Do’s and Don’ts

Part VII - Appendixes Appendix A - HTML 4 Tags

Appendix B - HTML Character Codes Appendix C - Glossary

Index

Cheat Sheet- HTML 4 For Dummies, 4th Edition List of Figures

List of Tables List of Listings List of Sidebars

If you don't set table and cell width, the user's browser determines the width of every cell according to the width of its contents - no more, no less. For example, suppose you want to put a logo in the first cell and navigational items in the cell to its left. If you don't assign the width to the first cell (containing the logo), the navigational items are placed right beside the logo, with no or almost no space between the two. To avoid that cramped look, you can use the width attribute to strategically define an exact number of pixels between the logo and navigational items.

Tip If you're using tables for layout purposes, we recommend that you set the width for the table and cells. You can do this using either pixels or percentages, keeping in mind that percentages allow your table to be resized depending on the size of the browser window.

Defining width is easy when you use the width attribute. For example, you can set the width of your table at 630 pixels like this:

<table border="1" width="630"> ...

</table>

The value of the width attribute can be defined in pixels by using a positive integer (say, 630), or in percentages by using a positive integer followed by a percent sign (as in 95%). This choice also applies when you set the width of individual cells. To add widths to the table built earlier in this chapter (and to set width for its individual cells), add the following markup shown in bold text:

<table border="1" width="630"> <tr> <td width="630"> contents </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="400"> contents </td> <td width="230"> contents </td> </tr> </table>

Figures 8-7 and 8-8 show the difference between a site that doesn't define table and cell width and one that uses the width attribute.