#### 33.4.10 Deciding what to do with empty paragraphs in table cells

Browsers neither shade nor apply borders to table cells that are empty, or that contain only tags but no content. By default, DITA2Go adds a single nonbreaking space between the opening and closing tags of each otherwise empty table-cell paragraph. This is appropriate for HTML and generic XML, but not for DITA XML or DocBook XML.

You can have DITA2Go do any of the following:

Omit empty paragraph tags

Provide content for empty paragraphs

Retain empty paragraph tags.

Omit empty paragraph tags

To omit empty paragraphs from table cells:

    [Tables]
    ; RemoveEmptyTableParagraphs = No (default)
    ;  or Yes (DITA/DocBook default)
    RemoveEmptyTableParagraphs = Yes

When RemoveEmptyTableParagraphs=Yes, paragraph tags are omitted for empty paragraphs in table cells (except for preformatted text, where tags are always preserved). If a table cell is blank in DITA (contains only empty elements) in HTML output that cell would consist of only <td></td>.

When RemoveEmptyTableParagraphs=No, the tags for empty elements are retained in table cells.

Provide content for empty paragraphs

To specify text content for otherwise empty elements in table cells:

    [Tables]
    ; EmptyTbCellContent = string to put in otherwise empty paragraphs
    ;  in table cells
    EmptyTbCellContent = &nbsp;

The default value for EmptyTbCellContent is a single nonbreaking space: &nbsp;.

Retain empty paragraph tags

To retain paragraph tags but omit text content for empty elements in table cells:

    [Tables]
    RemoveEmptyTableParagraphs = No
    EmptyTbCellContent =

When RemoveEmptyTableParagraphs=Yes, EmptyTbCellContent has no effect.

Previous Topic: 33.4.9.3 Maintaining the width of table columns via relative sizing

Next Topic: 33.5 Positioning tables, table titles, and table footnotes

Parent Topic: 33.4 Specifying table attributes

Sibling Topics:

33.4.1 Specifying attributes for all tables

33.4.2 Overriding attributes for selected tables

33.4.3 Assigning a CSS class to a table

33.4.4 Using PI markers to assign attributes to tables, rows, or cells

33.4.5 Specifying attributes for table rows

33.4.6 Specifying attributes for table cells

33.4.7 Eliminating automatically generated attributes

33.4.8 Adjusting borders, cell spacing, and cell padding

33.4.9 Determining the width of table columns