Everything within its place.

The layout of information on your website is of prime importance. Your content must be easy to read and appear neat and tidy. Tables are important content formatting elements that enable you to structure the information presented on your site in a clear and logical way.

Tables allow you to create blocks of text and images and make the most of your available space. Pages will continue to scroll as you add more content so it is important to ensure that visitors are presented with as much information in one place as possible.

Using Tables to Format Page Content

Creating tables is relatively simple, and with a little practice your tables will become stylish and professionally presented.

To create a table:

1. Go to Pages > Add / Edit Pages.
2. Navigate to the page you wish to create or edit.
3. In the Content Editor,  place your mouse cursor where you would like the table to appear.
4. Click on the Insert a New Table button from the WYSIWYG Toolbar. The Insert / Edit Table pop up window will appear. 

• Columns:  Enter the number of columns you would like in your table. Note that you can increase and decrease the number of columns after your table has been created.
• Rows:  Enter the number of rows you would like in your table. You can increase and decrease the number of rows after your table has been created.
• Cell Padding: Enter a value for the distance (in pixels) between the edge of each cell and the text within it. This value will apply to all cells in the table. For comparison, 10 pixels is equal to approximately 5mm to the eye.
• Cell Spacing:  Enter a value for the distance (in pixels) between one cell wall and another cell wall. This value will apply to all cells in the table. 
• Width:  Enter a value for the width of your table. It is recommended that you enter a percentage value and you need to type ‘%’ into the box also.
• Alignment:  Choose from the options (center, left, right) to set where the table will be positioned within the content area. By default, the table will appear on its own paragraph line, aligned to the left of the page. Select left or right to align the table to the relevant side of the page. Any text on the page will wrap around the table. Select center to align the table to the center of the page.
• Border:  You can set the width of the border (number of pixels) for the table. If the border is set to a number other than 0, the border will appear for every cell in the table. If the border is set to 0, no border will be visible on the page. This is useful if you are using the table to position text and images on the page. Invisible borders appear in the Content Editor as dotted grey lines.
• Click Insert. The table will now appear on your page. Place your mouse cursor within a cell and click within the cell to add text and images.

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Editing an Existing Table

Once a table is placed on a page, you can edit its properties. This includes adding or deleting columns or rows, setting vertical or horizontal alignment of cells, adding background colours and borders.

1. Go to Pages > Add / Edit Pages.
2. Navigate to the page you wish to edit.
3. Select the table in the Content Editor by placing your mouse cursor within any table cell. 

• If you wish to edit the properties of a specific cell,  click inside the required cell.

1. Right click to open the Table Operations menu. Select the command that you wish to action.

• Select Table Properties to change any of the original settings entered in to the Insert Table pop up window.
• Select Row > Table Row Properties to set the vertical alignment for the cell’s content. The most common use for this is changing the setting from middle to top, as this will make all of the content in the row appear to start on the same line.

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Using Pre-Defined Template Layouts

When adding new pages to your website one of the greatest challenges for content editors is how to retain layout consistency across multiple pages.

The Content Editor’s WYSIWYG Toolbar features a Predefined Template Content tool which provides 4 layout templates for you to use. If you’re creating a new set of pages designed to present the same subject or category, then using the same layout template across each page is recommended.

To set up a pre-defined page template layout on a new page:

1. Go to Pages > Add / Edit.
2. Select the Add a Page button.
3. Select Add a new page and click Continue.
4. Enter Page Title and Menu Label information as outlined in the section Maintaining Pages.
5. Click the Predefined Template Content icon on the Content Editor’s WYSIWYG Toolbar 
6. From the pop up window, select a preferred layout from the drop-down menu list of options.
7. Click Insert.
8. Add your content into each layout region as necessary.
9. Select Save & Exit.
10. Publish the website to affect changes.

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