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1. lthockey
   Member
   Mar 10, 2012, 2:20 AM

   http://lthockey.wordpress.com/

   FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a super novice. Speak slowly and use small words with me!

   I'd like to use tables in a number of different ways on this blog. I've read the other forums and the especially helpful stuff from TimeThief (thank you). I also worked with Windows Writer and Google blogs and practiced creating tables there -- that's the hack job currently in the upper left corner. Those programs were not without other problems, but more on that in a second. First I'm going start by asking for the sun...

   The tables I'll be creating will be regularly updated for new game scores and player stats. The way I understand things I'll need to go back and revise the HTML every time for every change. Is that right? Is there any way to create or add something like a form where you'd simply cursor over to the appropriate box and change the numbers when there's a new game score to be posted, or when a player's stats change?

   I'm going to assume I can't have the form, because you really can't always get what you want, so here's my next question -- every table I create in both Windows and Google has a border around the table but not around individual cells. I'm sure it's me (it usually is) but I feel like I've done every combination I can to try to change that. I completely understand if you don't give advice on those programs here.

   Good thing I'm starting off in spring hockey when it's slow is all I have to say -- by the next real season maybe I'll actually know what I'm doing.

   I greatly appreciate any wisdom you can share with me.

   The blog I need help with is lthockey.wordpress.com.

2. auxclass
   Member
   Mar 10, 2012, 2:40 AM

   You can make a table - setting it up can be a bit tricky. Windows Live Writer does do tables as do some other offline editors. I do tables a bit on my site but I had to get help from others to make the table work and it was a bit of a struggle - once a table is set up you can change the numbers in it fairly easy.

   This is the last page I used a table on. You can also embed other documents from Scribd and others, some places like Scribd let you edit or update a document.

   http://captnmike.com/2011/11/13/tvmdc-%E2%80%93-practice-%E2%80%93-correcting-and-un-correcting-the-compass/

3. 1tess
   Moderator
   Mar 10, 2012, 5:07 AM

   A common problem with using online (and even desktop) table generators is that many are using outdated, deprecated code. And many (?? some anyway??) themes on WP.com have styling for tables built into their code so your tables won't look plain and simple as you expect. If you want a simple table one must use inline styling to over-ride the theme's CSS (custom styling) such as borders, padding, and even sometimes background color.

   With a CSS purchased upgrade, you could over-ride all the unusual coding for tables on a theme. Without that, you must use special coding on each table you make.

   For the Coraline theme:
   This isn't quite perfect but if you use this as a saved code snippet you can paste it into your html editor on posts to make nice tables. (The not-perfect part is the heavy top border.)

   Note: If html is scary, you can switch back to the Visual Editor to fill in tables on your posts.
   

   <table>
   <tbody>
   <tr>
   <td style="border-right:1px solid #cccccc;">ROW1_CELL1</td>
   <td style="border-right:1px solid #cccccc;">ROW1_CELL2</td>
   <td>ROW1_CELL3</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
   <td style="border-right:1px solid #cccccc;">ROW2_CELL1</td>
   <td style="border-right:1px solid #cccccc;">ROW2_CELL2</td>
   <td>ROW2_CELL3</td>
   </tr>
   </tbody>
   </table>

   Some explanation of the code, so you will be able to build a table as you need:
   tags are always enclosed by < and > pairs
   table and body tell the browser you want a table.
   tr means the beginning and ending of a table row.
   td (table data) means a cell in the table row.
   (you need the beginning and ending < symbols for each cell.)

   My sample above will make two rows with 3 cells each.
   You can add more cells to each row.
   You can add more rows to the table.

   Coraline theme needs to have the styling to have lines between cells:
   style="border-right:1px solid #cccccc;" for each cell but the last in each row.

4. 1tess
   Moderator
   Mar 10, 2012, 5:12 AM

   Just a note:

   I'm going to assume I can't have the form

   What I posted is a sort of form or snippet of code you can save in a draft post or simple text document so you can re-use it to make other tables.

   If you have questions, feel free to ask… I can certainly understand that as a novice things can be confusing: it's taken me a long time to learn.

   ≥^!^≤

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