Setting column width

Background

Starting point

The procedure in this topic assumes Skribenta is installed and configured for normal operation, and:

You have logged into Skribenta.
You are assigned to one of the following user roles: content provider, technical writer or administrator.
You have selected the workspace you want to work in.
A content file or a configuration file is created in the workspace.
You have browsed to and opened the file in the Workspace view or the Publications view.
The file contains a table.

Your need

You need to set columns widths in a table in your file content.

The possibility

It is possible to set columns widths in a table by moving the vertical column borders using a drag-and-drop operation. It is also possible to specify columns widths in relative numbers. This means that if the first column, in a two column table, has width=2 and the second column has width=3, then the first column's relative width is 2/5 and the second column's relative width is 3/5.

About this task

What you will learn

This instruction tells you how to set column widths in a table.

The result

This is the content before setting column width in a table:

This is the content after setting column width in a table:

In the shown images, the XML tags are visible. To show XML tags, see Turning XML element tags on or off.

Overall steps

Open the file, then select a table element in the file content and set the table column widths.

Time

Less than 1 minute

Procedure

In the shown images, the XML tags are visible. To show XML tags, see Turning XML element tags on or off.

1. Make sure that the step(s) in section "Starting point" (see section "Background" above) are performed.

2. In your file content, right-click a table.

A pop-up list opens.

3. In the pop-up list, select the table icon.

The table toolbar opens.

4. On the table toolbar, click Width.

The Width tab opens.

5. In the Col boxes (in this example Col 1 and Col 2), type a number or click the up or down arrows to change the column's relative widths.

Column width is defined in relative terms, which means that the column width is specified in relation to other columns.

For example, if a table has three columns using the widths 1, 2 and 5, the third column will get 5/8 of the available publishing width.

The table columns' widths are changed.

The columns widths in percentage are shown next to the top toolbar.

6. If you want to change the table width, type a number in the Table (%) box.

Table width is defined as percentage of the available publishing width.

The stylesheet can overrule manual table width settings.

7. If you select Fit to content, the table column widths will change to fit the content of the columns.

The table column widths will only be published according to the option Fit to content if there is stylesheet support.

8. On the table toolbar, click Close to close the toolbar.

Alternative procedure: Setting column width using the top toolbar

1. Make sure that the step(s) in section "Starting point" (see section "Background" above) are performed.

2. In your file content, put the caret in a table cell.

3. On the top toolbar, click Column > Width.

The Width tab on the table toolbar opens.

4. In the Col boxes (in this example Col 1 and Col 2), type a number or click the up or down arrows to change the column's relative widths.

Column width is defined in relative terms, which means that the column width is specified in relation to other columns.

For example, if a table has three columns using the widths 1, 2 and 5, the third column will get 5/8 of the available publishing width.

The table columns' widths are changed.

The columns widths in percentage are shown next to the top toolbar.

5. If you want to change the table width, type a number in the Table (%) box.

Table width is defined as percentage of the available publishing width.

The stylesheet can overrule manual table width settings.

6. If you select Fit to content, the table column widths will change to fit the content of the columns.

The table column widths will only be published according to the option Fit to content if there is stylesheet support.

7. On the table toolbar, click Close to close the toolbar.

Alternative procedure: Setting column width using a drag-and-drop operation

1. Make sure that the step(s) in section "Starting point" (see section "Background" above) are performed.

2. In your file content, put the caret in a table column that you want to adjust the width for.

3. Move the column border using a drag-and-drop operation.

The columns widths in percentage are shown next to the top toolbar.

The column width is changed.

The stylesheet can overrule manual table width settings.