rowspan and auto resizing problem

ok, here's my problem...

i want to have this layout...


-----------------------
|| |
-- -----------------
|| |
|| |
------ cell in question
|| |
|| |
|| |
-- ------------------
|| |
-----------------------

the side thin table is one piel wide, and i use it to let the table know how tall to make each cell, as i.e. was being stupid about that.

and i think its ok i'm using rowspans to make it work,
however, when the cell in question contains text that is too big, it stretches the top sidebar rather than the bottom one... in how do i define it to stretch the bottom one? is this even possible??

I'm afraid your diagram sort of fell to pieces; could you supply a proper diagram as an image, or the desired table markup? At the moment, it's rather hard to tell what it actually is you want to accomplish.

Also, realise that tables are not the preferred way to create layouts; use CSS if you can, or be very conservative in using layout tables if you don't want to use CSS positioning. Convoluted table constructions with multiple column or row spans are rarely the way to go.

ok i guess a simple description might do the trick...

a table with 2 columns and 2 rows
with only 3 cells... the righthand cell is rowspanned to fill both rows

the equivalent of...

<table>
<tr>
<td>cell 1</td>
<td rowspan=2>cell 3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>cell2</td>
</tr>
</table>

looks like...

|_| |
| | |


now technically, my system is more complex, as there are four rows and 3 columns... on the left there are four cells of zero width which are placed to explicitly define each row's height... in the middle are 2 cells, each rowspan=2... on the right there are three cells with the middle one being rowspan=2

the problem is, the right hand rowspanned cell is for content and needs to be able to resize the table height... however, it has chosen to resize the upper middle cell, rather than the lower one, when it stretches. i need it to resize the lower middle cell only...

in my simplified 2x2 example, it means that the top row must be of static size, despite the size of the rowspanned cell.

i tried setting the one i wanted to stretch to 100% and everything else to pixel sizes, but it didn't cut it

http://img145.exs.cx/img145/4287/layout3zv.gif

also, i cannot use css for this part, because the person who will be maintaining the site doesn't know it, and doesn't want to learn (dumb)
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

ill make solving the prob even easier... here's the convoluted code

http://www.geocities.com/wide_area_intelligence_project/home2.html

as you can see, below the menu there is a large expanse of green, instead, i want that cell to end, and the cell with the plaid background to start there

i know the code isn't pretty, but over the time my group has been working on it, 3 different people have rewritten it... javascript is because our server won't allow php

also, border is for testing only

also, i cannot use css for this part, because the person who will be maintaining the site doesn't know it, and doesn't want to learn (dumb)The whole point of using HTML + CSS is the seperation between structure/content and style. If you create a page intelligently, they shouldn't need to do more than edit the HTML (the text, not the markup).

thats the problem... the foolish person wishes to be able to alter the formatting

Then having a table isn't going to make a difference. In fact they're more likely to stuff it up.

you don't understand.. the individual in question can write html competently, ergo he won't "stuff it up" he simply doesn't understand css... andway the choice of strict html tables is already made, and i don't have the authority to change it, i need to know if it can be fixed with html.

you have your tartan.jpg above the links.


<tr>
<td height = 100% width = 0></td>

<tr><td height = 100% valign = bottom><center><a href=" http://www.stjohnsburyacademy.org"><img src=" graphics/seal2.gif" border = 0></a></center></td></tr></table>
</td>
</tr>



<tr valign=bottom >
<td height = 1 width = 0></td>
<td align="left" valign=bottom >
<div class="bottom">

<a class="link" href="home.html">Home</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp; <a class="link" href="news.html">News</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;
<a class="link" href="schedule.html">Schedule</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;
<a class="link" href="history.html">History</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp; <a class="link" href="members.html">Members</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;

<a class="link" href="gallery.html">Gallery</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp; <a class="link" href="links.html">Links</a>
<a class="link" href="store.html">Store</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp; <a class="link" href="sponsor.html">Sponsors</a><br>
<a class="link" href="contact.html">Contact</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp; <a class="link" href="map.html">Site
Map</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp; <a class="link" href="http://www.stjohnsburyacademy.org/">St.
Johnsbury Academy</a>

</div>
</td>

<td width = 150 valign = top align = center rowspan = 100><table align="center" valign =" bottom" width="150" height="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" img src="graphics/tartantile.jpg">

</td>
</tr>
</table>

</body>

i'm not sure if this is the fix but it lays below your cell.

thanks, but thats not what i need... what i'm trying to do is make home2.html look like home.html on the same site, but with the seal where it appears on home2.html... follow the link, and click home.

i.e. same design as home.html, but with the round emblem at the base of the sidebar.. my problem is with table sizing to accomplish the tartan(plaid) tiled background from the base of the side menu to the emblem

I lost count somewhere in the fourth nested table, but it looks like it's simply a matter of home.html has tartantile.jpg assigned as a background image in the cell in question, and home2.html does not.

there are two cells to talk about... the lower side cell, and the upper side cell... i made the lower side cell have the background, and now i am trying to size it as seen in the picture i inserted, rather than how it is in the site... on home its a nested table within one side cell that has the background, not the whole cell... the problem with doing it to the whole cell is matching the background with the other cell that contains the logo... i have temporarily solved the problem by giving the entire table the plaid background and overriding it in each cell except where needed, but this is not the way i wanted to do it

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>51310</title>
<style type="text/css">
table
{
border: 1px solid #000;
}
td
{
border: 1px solid #000;
padding:2em;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td rowspan="2"></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td rowspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td rowspan="2"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</body>
</html>Simply horrible.