To make changes to the table, you need to get to the table properties section. In table properties you can change whether you have a visible table or invisible table, what color the background is for any individual cell or row or column, what the alignment is in any cell - left, center, right or top, center, bottom.

Let's look at the table properties section and see how to make the table be visible or invisible. The examples below are from Microsoft Word, Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Nvu. You will see some similarities and some differences between the interfaces, but all the programs can do the same things.

First, how do we display the table properties box? In Microsoft FrontPage:

In Microsoft Word:

In Nvu:

In Dreamweaver:

To make the table "invisible," change the border width to 0 (zero). To make the border visible (and the table) make the border be a number larger than 0 (zero). Play with cell pading and cell spacing to see what effect they have on the table. Here is a table properties box for Nvu:

To change the backgroud color for a table, click on the background color button. To change a single cell or row or column, click on the cell tab (at top of table properties box) to see the things you may set for a cell.

The table properties box above shows something called "Table alignment". This refers to the alignment of the whole table.

Here is an example of the cell properties box and the things you may change in a cell.

If your are using Dreamweaver, Frontpage, or Microsoft Word, all of the same options are available but they are in different places on the menu. Microsoft Word table and cell properties are the most difficult to find and use.