Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Mar 26, 2004

␡

⎙ Print

< Back Page 15 of 342 Next >

At the beginning of the section on Word, I used a quick table to create our letterhead for our mythical company, Surrealty. This might have given you the idea that tables are a very useful tool to lay out text and graphics in a document. But, in case you didn't get the idea, let me repeat it: tables are a very useful tool to lay out text and graphics in a document.

Unfortunately, lots of users avoid tables as being too much trouble. Then they try to align textboxes and images in their document, and they pull their hair out.

I like to think of tables as the lazy person's layout tool. When you realize that it's easy to make the borders within a table invisible you begin to see the beauty of using them for layout.

Besides the letterhead template with which I began this section, here are some quick ideas of how to use tables in other office applications.

Lay out a flyer for a special event, using MS Word.
Create an agenda for a series of PowerPoint presentations
Put more than one media player object into a Web page, with FrontPage.

What each of these projects have in common is that text and graphics need to coexist in a document without crowding, overlapping, or constraining one another.

The principles of table creation are nearly identical in Word, FrontPage, and PowerPoint. In each case, you can either draw or insert a table of a given set of columns and rows, and use the Tables and Borders Toolbar to modify it.

For example, in this flyer for an upcoming event, I wanted to make sure my photo would be laid out properly next to a set of bullets about the event. To create this layout, I simply inserted a table with one row and two columns. I put the bullet text in one cell and the photo in the other, and dragged the border slightly to accommodate the bullets (because I didn't need the full width of the table for the photo).

Figure 277

To get the Tables and Borders toolbar to display, I just need to click View > Toolbars > Tables and Borders.

Then with my cursor in a cell, I can use the full complement of tools to make my table look the way I want. To get the charcoal background behind my photo, I use the Fill Bucket tool to change the fill of one (or more) selected cells.

Figure 278

With the entire table selected, click its upper left corner; you can now use the Borders panel to determine which Borders you want to affect, and turn them all off if you like.

To make an agenda for the event, I would create a table with many more rows and perhaps four columns after clicking Table > Insert > Table.

Figure 279

Then I'd select the top row of cells by dragging my house through them, and on the Tables and Borders Toolbar click on Merge Cells.

Now I can enter a title for the table, select the text, and —if I change the Font Size—the size of the row will expand accordingly.

Figure 280

In the second row, I might put some column headings, like Time, Topic, Speaker, Summary. If I want this stuff centered, all I need to do is select the appropriate cells and click the Center button on the Formatting Toolbar.

Figure 281

Now I can populate my table. I can add the times, merge cells for a break and lunch, enter more text, and even put in a picture of the speaker(s).

Figure 282

TIP

If the picture is too large for the cell, it's easy to drag in its corner and resize it. This automatically reduces the size of the cell and the entire table. If you plan to save the document as a Web page, however, you should use smaller photos (in terms of dimensions and file size) to reduce the loading time for the entire page.

To create a Web page of this table, I can use Word's Save As a Web Page feature. Make sure you chose the HTM file type to ensure that the file will open in browsers other than Internet Explorer.

Figure 283

In Word, the AutoFormat option under Tables gives me a quick and dirty way to enhance the overall look of the entire table — with one click of the mouse. Here is the Classic table style applied to this table.

Figure 284

To make it look more like a brochure, we could apply a texture background to the entire page, using Format > Background > Fill Effects; then click the Texture tab.

Figure 285

There is even a way to put a picture on the background using Fill Effects. This also translates into saving the table as a Web page.

Figure 286

The only problem with this scenario is that you can't change the brightness of the image within Word. But you can in PowerPoint, so let's undo a few steps and see what happens if we copy and paste this table into PowerPoint.

In PowerPoint, to print the table in Portrait onto standard paper, I need to change the File properties in the Page Setup dialog box.

Figure 287

Then I go into the Slide Master with View > Master > Slide Master, and insert and stretch my image into the slide background. Now with the Picture toolbar in PowerPoint, I can increase the brightness so that the picture has a more artistic effect.

Figure 288

TIP

You can also achieve some cool effects by decreasing the contrast or choosing Washout under Color in the Picture toolbar.

When I exit out of Master View and preview the slide, I can see that this would make a nice printed agenda. I might want to resize the table or add more information to the bottom, or just add another table for the afternoon session.

Figure 289

TIP

Notice that I lost the picture that I inserted into the table when I pasted it from Word. There are advantages and disadvantages of creating the table in Word originally – though at the moment, I wanted to show the advantage of AutoFormat. If you knew the table would be used by PowerPoint eventually, you might want to create it there from scratch, using PowerPoint's own table capability.

If the ultimate destination is online, you might want to populate the table with Web links, or, as I hinted earlier, use the table to play multimedia elements.

I have found tables a great way to line up video clips on Web pages. I do so by placing the object tags for Media Player, Quicktime, or Real Player inside table cells in Web pages.

A word of caution, however, if you do this from Office Web authoring tools, whether Word, PowerPoint, or FrontPage. Web aficionados will view your table code in the Web page with disdain because it will be full of Microsoft kludge (that's the technical term). But most other Web tools have quick table creation capability, notably Macromedia Dreamweaver.

In any event, when it comes to laying out complex areas of text, graphics, and other elements in a page for a brochure, Web page or other project, I love tables, and I wanted to share those insights with you.

< Back Page 15 of 342 Next >

🔖 Save To Your Account

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Privacy Notice

Overview

Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information

To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information

Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security

Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children

This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing

Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information

If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out

Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information

Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents

California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure

Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

As required by law.
With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact

Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020

Email Address