Tables and their cells have independent properties. For example, a table and a cell can have different background colors. But before you can change any of these properties, you must first select the tables, rows, columns , or cells you want to affect.
There are a number of ways to select a table in the document window:
Click the upper-left corner of the table, or anywhere on the bottom edge of the table. (Be careful using the latter technique, however. It's easy to accidentally drag the border, resetting the height of the table in the process.)
Click anywhere inside the table, and then select the <table> tag in the document window's status bar (see Section 1.2.1 to learn about the tag selector).
Click anywhere inside the table, and then choose Modify Table Select Table.
Right-click (Control-click) inside a table, and then choose Table Select Table from the contextual menu.
If the insertion point is in any cell inside the table, pressing Ctrl+A ( -A) twice selects the table.
Once selected, a table appears with a thick black border and three tiny, square resize handlesat the right edge, bottom edge, and lower-right corner.
You can also select an entire row or column of cells by doing one of the following:
Move the cursor to the left edge of a row or the top edge of a column. When it changes to a right- or down-pointing arrow, click, as explained in Figure 7-16.
Click a cell at either end of a row, or the first or last cell of a column, and then drag across the cells in the row or column to select them.
Click any cell in the row you wish to select, and then click the <tr> tag in the tag selector. (The <tr> tag is how HTML indicates a table row.) This method doesn't work for columns.
When a cell is selected, it has a dark border around it. When multiple cells are selected, each cell has a dark border (see Figure 7-16).
To select one or more cells:
Drag over adjoining cells. A solid black border appears around a cell when it's selected.
To select several cells that aren't necessarily adjacent, Ctrl-click ( -click) them one at a time. (You can also Ctrl-click [ -click] an already selected cell to deselect it.)
Click a cell, and then Shift-click another cell. Your two clicks form diagonally opposite corners of an imaginary rectangle; Dreamweaver highlights all cells within it.
Use the tag selector (see Section 1.2.1) to select a cell. Click inside the cell you wish to select, and then click the <td> tag in the tag selector. (The <td> tag stands for table data , which is how the HTML language refers to a cell.)
If the insertion point is inside the cell you wish to select, press Ctrl+A ( -A).