What Are Table Cell Properties?

Issue

To understand table cell properties

Environment

RLDatix Policy Editor

Resolution

Clicking into a table cell will display the table menu which offers a number of controls and settings for your rows, columns, and cells. Clicking the right-most options will open up the Table Properties or Cell Properties.

Table properties

Within the Table properties menu, you can define the border and background color for the entire table. 

Border

A border can be applied to the outer edge of your table using this setting. First, selected a style from the dropdown (eg., solid or dotted) which will unlock the Color and Width fields. 

Color can be selected using the predefined options or specifying a color using the color picker. Enter a pixel value to define the width.

Background

Selecting a background will apply a color fill for all non-header cells in your table. Color can be selected using the predefined options or specifying a color using the color picker. For reasons of both accessibility standards and usability, we recommend against using colors for tables.

For guidance on selecting the right colors, please visit the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker. This site also features information about accessibility considerations to accommodate users with color blindness or other visual impairments. This includes a guide to selecting the right colors to ensure proper contrast.

Width and Height

By default, PolicyStat automatically sets the dimensions of the rows and columns in the table according to how much content is inside the table cell. Since cells are displayed in a grid-like pattern, the cell containing the most content will typically set the width and height of all cells adjacent to it and hence establish the width and height of related rows and columns in your table.

Width and height can also be manually defined by clicking the edge of your table dragging it to the desire position.

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Cell Properties

Selecting the Cell Properties option on the table menu displays the settings for the cell or series of highlighted cells when you click the button.

Border and Background

These settings offer the same options and apply the same as effects as they do in the Table Properties menu, but apply only to the designated cell(s) in your table.

Dimensions

Width and height can be adjusted for cells using the border drag method mentioned for tables, but they can also be explicitly defined by entering a pixel value in these fields. 

Padding defines the number of pixels between your text and the edge of the cell.

Table cell text alignment

The following cell text alignment options are available:

• Align cell text to the left
• Align cell text to the center
• Align cell text to the right
• Justify alignment
• Align cell text to the top
• Align cell text to the middle
• Align cell text to the bottom

With Justify, text is aligned along the left margin, and letter- and word-spacing is adjusted so that the text falls flush with both margins.