Spaces—Samples

The first example is using spaces to indent paragraphs or separate columns of text (since there are no such things as tabs in HTML.)

   Nested Tables                      Netscape 4.x
   Regular Tables                     Netscape 3.x
   CSS                                      Internet Explorer 4.x

The second example uses a table with all borders and spacing set to zero.  Now increase the font size on your browser several points. Watch the difference!

Notice how the text which is spaced using the space characters changes the total spacing of the columns (besides just not lining up). However, when we use a table to hold the columns, the elements are always positioned correctly on the page regardless of the font size.

The next example is an interesting one and has to do with differences in the way that the browsers wrap space characters: some do and some don’t.  Below is a table cell which is exactly 100 pixels long. Below it is a rectangle gif which is also 100 pixels long. The table contains 40 space characters--which is longer, in standard spaces, than the cell can display in only 100 pixels.

Now depending on the browser you are using you will see this table cell displayed differently. Below are some screenshots of what you might be seeing:

Netscape 4.x Netscape 3.x Internet Explorer 4.x NetObjects Fusion

As you can see the only one which looks as things actually do in NetObjects Fusion is Netscape 3.x!  What is the problem here? Well, the issue is with the way the different programs deal with displaying a space and whether or not this space is counted as a character to be wrapped. The important thing to remember is that NetObjects Fusion does not wrap space characters unless other regular characters follow them.  Typically you won’t encounter this when you are typing in text, but if you are copying and pasting from other data which might contain extra characters (this is particularly true if you are copying and pasting from a browser window) make sure that you do not end up with extra space characters.  They can throw off your table layout in the newer browsers.

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