This week's goal:
Tables are useful for presenting information in a concise manner. Just think of a bus schedule as an example. However, when designing web pages tables play an even more important role. Until browsers implement the guidelines for style sheets, tables are the main tool used to control layout of a page. This week you will master the use of tables for organizing your pages until browsers catch up with the html 4.0 standard.
What to do this week:
1. Browse the web and use "View>Page Source" to find sites that use tables to lay out the page. Look for pages that have tags <table> <tr> and <td>.
2. Read material about tables in the text of your choice. If this seems very complicated to you, please note the word of comfort Dave Raggett offers on page 167 of his book, "We have attempted to put the more difficult, less essential attributes later in the chapter. . . .The good news for beginners is that you can make quite serviceable tables with just the simplest of the table elements, gradually adding others, as you become more experienced." I think few people can read straight through a description of how to do tables and then understand how to do it. Master the very basic code to set up a table and then go back to learn more details: how to align your text inside cells, how to span rows and columns, and so on.
3. You can play with table attributes by using the JavaScript developed by Andy Augustine.
4. The comments in the highlighted <table> link below treat the use of tables to achieve margins and suggestions about dealing with width and display.
The other references in the "Readings" link offer other approaches for dealing with tables. The other tutorials mentioned in the "Resources" link below are another source of help.
5. Send good examples of web pages that use tables for layout to the ListServ with your comments. Make the subject of your message "Topic 7 : table examples".
6. Try the quiz if you find that useful.
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Intro to Topic 77. Do this week's submission and post it on the web. If you need help, post your question to the ListServ with the topic of your message marked "Help for Topic 7."
