HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
17.3. Tricks with Tables
By design, tables let authors create appealing, accessible tables of in-
formation. But the table tags also can be exploited to create innovative,
attractive page designs that are otherwise unattainable in standard HTML
and XHTML.
17.3.1. Multicolumn Pages
One very common and popular page-layout element missing from HTML
and XHTML is multiple columns of text. Here's a tip on how to use tables
to achieve that effect.
[*]
[*]
Okay, it's true that earlier versions of Netscape supported the
<multicol>
extension. No longer.
This is a more universal solution.
17.3.1.1. Basic multicolumn layout
The basic two-column layout using
<table>
has a single table row with
three data cells: one each for the columns of text and an intervening
empty cell to more attractively separate the two columns. We've also ad-
ded a large
cellspacing
attribute value to create additional intervening
space between the columns.
The following example HTML table is an excellent template for a simple
two-column text layout:
<table border=0 cellspacing=7>
<tr>
<td>Copy for column 1...
<td><br>
<td>Copy for column 2...
</table>
