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Wordprocessing Tables

Related Open Office/ODF Discussion
Related HTML/CSS Discussion
Table Cell Properties - Margins

Margins for a single table cell are specified with the <w:tcMar> element within the <tcPr> element. This overrides the table-level cell margins, if present.

<w:tblStyle>
<w:tblCellMar>
<w:top w:w="0" w:type="dxa"/>
<w:start w:w="0" w:type="dxa"/>
<w:bottom w:w="0" w:type="dxa"/>
<w:end w:w="0" w:type="dxa"/>
</w:tblCellMar>
</w:tblStyle>

. . .

<w:tcPr>
<w:tcMar>
<w:top w:w="720" w:type="dxa"/>
<w:start w:w="720" w:type="dxa"/>
<w:bottom w:w="0" w:type="dxa"/>
<w:end w:w="720" w:type="dxa"/>
</w:tcMar>
</w:tcPr>
Reference: ECMA-376, 3rd Edition (June, 2011), Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference § 17.4.69.
Word 2007 Example:

Default table cell margins are set to zero. The B cell below is set as specified above:

Table Cell Properties - Margins

Elements:

ElementDescription
top Specifies the amount of space between the top of the cell contents and the top border.
Reference: ECMA-376, 3rd Edition (June, 2011), Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference § 17.4.78.
bottom Specifies the amount of space displayed between the bottom of the cell content and the bottom border.
Reference: ECMA-376, 3rd Edition (June, 2011), Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference § 17.4.2.
start Specifies the amount of space between the left end of the cell contents and left border for left-to-right tables (between the right end and right border for right-to-left tables).

Note: In the previous version of the standard, this element was left.

Reference: ECMA-376, 3rd Edition (June, 2011), Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference § 17.4.36.

end Specifies the amount of space between the right end of the cell contents and right border for left-to-right tables (between the left end and left border for right-to-left tables).

Note: In the previous version of the standard, this element was right.

Reference: ECMA-376, 3rd Edition (June, 2011), Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference § 17.4.10.


Attributes:

The attributes for the above table cell margin elements are:

AttributeDescription
w Specifies the value of the width of the margin. If omitted, the value is assumed to be 0;
type Specifies the units of the width (w) property. Possible values are:
  • dxa - Specifies that the value is in twentieths of a point (1/1440 of an inch)
  • nil - Specifies a value of zero

If the attribute is omitted, its value is assumed to be dxa.



Related Open Document Format (ODF) Property:

Margins within a cell can be set by adding the fo:margin, fo:margin-bottom, fo:margin-left, fo:margin-right, and fo:margin-top attributes to the <style:paragraph-properties> element for the style applied to the paragraph that contains the text within the cell. Values are either a number or a percent. So margins are not set in the <style:table-cell-properties> element, but on the style for the paragraph within the cell.

Reference: Open Document Format for Office Applications Version 1.2 (May, 2011) §§ 17.6, 20.198 - 20.202.
<style:style style:name="P1" style:family="paragraph" style:parent-style-name="Table_20_Contents">
<style:paragraph-properties fo:margin-left="0.2in" fo:margin-right="0.2in" fo-text-indent="0in" style:auto-text-indent="false"/>
</style:style>

Related HTML/CSS Property:

td {
padding-bottom:0px;
padding-top:25px;
padding-left:15px;
padding-right:10px;
}
CSS Example:
AAA BBB CCC
DDD EEE FFF
GGG HHH III