Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 313)

307 USING INDESIGN
Tables
Last updated 11/16/2011
2 For Alternating Pattern, select the type of pattern you want to use. Select Custom if you want to specify a pattern;
for example, one column with a thick black line followed by three columns with thin yellow lines.
3 Under Alternating, specify the fill options for both the first pattern and the next pattern. For example, you may
want to add a solid stroke to the first column and a Thick - Thin line to the next column, so that they alternate.
Specify 0 for Next if you want the strokes to affect every row or column.
Note: In tables that span multiple frames, alternating strokes and fills for rows do not restart at the beginning of
additional frames in the story. (See “
Break tables across frames ” on page 301.)
4 Select Preserve Local Formatting if you want formatted strokes previously applied to the table to remain in effect.
5 For Skip First and Skip Last, specify the number of rows or columns at the beginning and end of the table in which
you do not want stroke attributes to appear, and then click OK.
Add alternating fills to a table
1 With the insertion point in a cell, choose Table > Table Options > Alternating Fills.
2 For Alternating Pattern, select the type of pattern you want to use. Select Custom if you want to specify a pattern,
such as one row shaded in gray followed by three rows shaded in yellow.
3 Under Alternating, specify the fill options for both the first pattern and the subsequent pattern. For example, if you
selected Every Second Column for Alternating Pattern, you may want to shade the first two columns in a gray tint
and leave the next two columns blank. Specify 0 for Next if you want the fill to apply to every row.
4 Select Preserve Local Formatting if you want previously formatted fills applied to the table to remain in effect.
5 For Skip First and Skip Last, specify the number of rows or columns at the beginning and end of the table in which
you do not want fill attributes to appear, and then click OK.
Turn off alternating strokes and fills in a table
1 Place the insertion point in the table.
2 Choose Table > Table Options > Alternating Row Strokes, Alternating Column Strokes, or Alternating Fills.
3 For Alternating Pattern, choose None, and then click OK.
Table and cell styles
About table and cell styles
Just as you use text styles to format text, you can use table and cell styles to format tables. A table style is a collection of
table formatting attributes, such as table borders and row and column strokes, that can be applied in a single step. A
cell style includes formatting such as cell insets, paragraph styles, and strokes and fills. When you edit a style, all tables
or cells to which the style is applied are updated automatically.
Note: There is one important difference between text styles and table styles. While all character styles attributes can be
part of a paragraph style, cell style attributes are not part of the table style. For example, you cannot use a table style to
change the border color of interior cells. Instead, create a cell style and include it in the table style.
[Basic Table] and [None] styles
By default, each new document contains a [Basic Table] style that can be applied to tables you create and a [None] style
that can be used to remove cell styles applied to cells. You can edit the [Basic Table] style, but you can’t rename or
delete either [Basic Table] or [None].