Omni Systems, Inc. Mif2Go User's Guide, Version 55

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> 24 Converting tables to HTML > 24.4 Specifying table attributes > 24.4.11 Using shading and color in tables

### 24.4.11 Using shading and color in tables

The row color (or column color) in a FrameMaker table is always one of the following:

• the main table background color

• if you specify colors other than As Is on the Shading tab in Table Designer, and set both First and Next counts to non-zero values:

– the alternate-row color, if you select Shade By Body Row(s)

– the alternate-column color, if you select Shade By Column(s)

• any cell color(s) you have specified via Custom Ruling and Shading.

Mif2Go automatically generates bgcolor attributes for HTML tables based on table colors in FrameMaker. You can exclude these automatically generated attributes, while including any bgcolor attributes you specify in the configuration file or in a marker; see §24.4.7 Eliminating automatically generated attributes.

You can have Mif2Go apply to HTML tables the same alternate-row or alternate-column shading you defined in FrameMaker Table Designer:

[Tables]

; UseAltShading = No (default)

; or Yes (alternate row/col shading as in Frame)

UseAltShading=Yes

Mif2Go uses the FrameMaker definition of row type to determine the extent of the table body, and not the configuration-file settings for heading/footing row counts you can specify with the [Tables] and [TableAccess] keywords described in §24.3.3 Identifying table headers and footers.

Mif2Go applies alternate-column colors at the cell level, because <colgroup> is not widely supported by browsers.

Where you have specified other colors for cells via Custom Ruling and Shading, those colors take precedence. Otherwise, if UseAltShading=No, and you defined alternate-row or alternate-column shading in a FrameMaker table, all body rows or columns of that table receive the color you specified for First on the Shading tab in Table Designer.

Background color

With the default setting, UseAltShading=No, if you specify the HTML bgcolor attribute for the <table> element, that background color applies to all cells. You can have Mif2Go apply whichever color is appropriate (which might be the alternate color if UseAltShading=Yes) in <tr> tags, as well as in cell tags:

[Tables]

; UseRowColor = No (default) or Yes (set bgcolor for <tr> tag)

; overridden on table ID basis by [TableUseRowColor] settings

UseRowColor=Yes

UseRowColor specifies whether to use <tr> color attributes. When UseRowColor=Yes, Mif2Go applies cell <td> color attributes only when the cell color is different from the row color; this is a size optimization. Setting UseRowColor=Yes might affect the color of the spaces between cells. If UseAltShading=No, probably that color is determined by the page or table bgcolor value. However, Mif2Go ignores any value of bgcolor specified as a table attribute in the configuration file.

If you set UseRowColor=Yes, Mif2Go writes each table row using the color specified in your FrameMaker document (as modified by settings in [Colors]), provided that color is not “invisible”, and has a tint greater than 1%. Then, Mif2Go puts out a background color for each cell, if the cell color or tint is different from the row color or tint. If you specify UseRowColor=Yes it does not really make sense to specify a table background color; it will always be overridden.

If UseRowColor=No, all rows are considered to be 100% white; Mif2Go writes out any cell-level colors or tints that are different from white. If UseRowColor=No, and you specify a table background color in HTML via bgcolor, you are likely to have trouble unless the table background color is white (#ffffff), in which case specifying it is redundant. If you have a cell where you want white, and you have a different table background color, you get the table background color in the cell instead, because in effect there is no cell background color.

The setting for UseRowColor applies to all tables in your document. To override this setting for selected tables:

[TableUseRowColor]

; table ID = Yes or No, overrides UseRowColor

See §24.2 Defining sets of tables for ways to specify a subset of tables.

Shading

Mif2Go follows all override settings for shading made via the FrameMaker Custom Ruling and Shading dialog; these settings overrule both the Table Designer settings and your UseAltShading setting.

Fill color

Table fill colors are treated the same as text colors (see §13.7 Defining and mapping colors for HTML); the [Colors] mapping works the same way. Mif2Go specifies an HTML table background color and individual cell overrides as required, including using the correct heading/footing color for the cells in the table heading/footing rows. Choose colors and tints such that all the resulting colors are Web-safe. See §13.7.4 Using Web-safe colors for more information.

You can use a table fill color that is just a tint. However, doing so might not give you Web-safe colors; a 100% tint of a distinct color is often a better idea. But not always; in one test case, a “highlight” color is applied (via Custom Ruling and Shading) to a set of columns, and shading is applied (via Table Designer) to alternate rows. What happens to cells that fall in both a shaded row and a highlighted column? If the alternate-row shading is a tint (for example, 50%) of the same color used for highlighting, the cells are tinted in the highlight color. But if the alternate-row shading is a different color, with 100% tint, these cells are not tinted; they are just highlighted, which looks a bit odd.

Border color

The effect on border colors varies by browser; some use cell attributes, some use table attributes.