Setting Table Styles for Print Output

A table stylesheet lets you single-source your formatting by setting the properties in one place and reusing them wherever you insert tables. But what if you want the tables in online output to look one way and the tables in your printed output to look another way? Here are two options… Solution #1—Two mediums: This is recommended. You can have one table stylesheet and use a medium to specify different settings for it—one medium is used for online output and another for print. Solution #2—Two table stylesheets: You can insert a single table at each location, using a special version of the table style for print-based output. This solution requires two table stylesheets—one for online and one for print.

How to Create a Table Style for Print-Based Output—Two Mediums

  1. From the Resources\TableStyles subfolder in the Content Explorer, open the table stylesheet.
  2. Set the properties to be used for the online output.
    1. In the local toolbar of the Table Style Editor, click in the Medium field and make sure the medium for the your online output is selected.
    2. Use the various tabs in the editor to set properties for that medium. See Editing Table Stylesheets.
  3. Set the properties to be used for the printed output as follows:

    1. In the local toolbar of the Table Style Editor, click the down arrow in the Medium field and select Medium: print or Medium: [name of print medium].

    2. Use the various tabs in the editor to set properties for that medium.
    3. Click Save the active file. to save your work.

  4. Apply that table style to the appropriate tables throughout your project as follows:

    See Applying Table Stylesheets to Tables.

  5. Associate the online medium with your online target as follows:
    1. Open the target to be used for online output (based on either the HTML5, Clean XHTML, Eclipse Help, Microsoft HTML Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus format).
    2. In the Target Editor, select the Advanced tab.
    3. In the Stylesheet Medium section, select the medium that you used for online output.
  6. Associate the print medium with your print target as follows:
    1. Open the target to be used for print output (Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word).
    2. In the Target Editor, select the Advanced tab.
    3. In the Stylesheet Medium section, select the medium that you used for printed output (e.g., print).
  7. Click to save all files.

How to Create a Table Style for Print-Based Output—Two Table Stylesheets

  1. Create one table stylesheet to be used for online output and another to be used for printed output. See Creating Table Stylesheets.

    Tip If you want both tables to share most of the same settings, you can create the online table stylesheet first, make a copy of it for the print version, and then edit the settings in the copy as necessary. You can easily do this by selecting the original table stylesheet in the Content Explorer (Resources\TableStyles subfolder), pressing CTRL+C, pressing CTRL+V, and renaming the copy to reflect your needs.

  2. Insert a table into a topic or edit an existing table.

    See Inserting Tables and Editing Table Properties.

  3. In the Insert Table dialog (if inserting a new table) or the Table Properties dialog (if editing an existing table), click Table Style and from the drop-down select the table style to be used for the online output.
  4. Click the down arrow next to the Create Table Style button and select Print Style. Click OK in the small dialog that opens. The Select Table Style dialog opens.
  5. From the list, select the table style to be used for the printed output.
  6. Click OK.
  7. In the Insert Table or Table Properties dialog, click OK.
  8. Click to save all files.

Example

Example You create a table stylesheet with a pattern design that displays the table with alternating green rows. The problem is that for printed output, you need the rows to display in light gray.

Suppose you decide to use the recommended solution (mediums). Let's say the target for online output is called Target A, and the one for print output is called Target B. the first step is to make sure you have two mediums. Suppose Target A is using the "default" medium, where the rows are set to use a green background. With the properties for Target A already set, you now need to specify style properties for Target B. Therefore, in the Table Style Editor, instead of selecting the "default" medium, you can select another medium (e.g., the "print" medium) and change the properties for the rows to light gray. It's the same table stylesheet and the same pattern that you are working with. The only difference is that one medium is telling Flare to display that table rows with a green background, and the other medium is telling it to use light gray. With Target A using the default medium and Target B using the other medium, the tables will display appropriately in each output.

If you decide instead to use the other solution (two table stylesheets), you first create a table stylesheet and specify settings in it appropriate for online output (e.g., green background for table rows). Then you create a secondary stylesheet. This extra table stylesheet will have design settings that are appropriate for printed output (e.g., light gray table rows). When you insert the table into your content (or edit an existing table), you select the original online table style and also select the special print version of the table style. If you generate any targets based on an online format (HTML5, Clean XHTML, Eclipse Help, Microsoft HTML Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus), the end user will see green rows in the table. However, if you generate any targets based on a print format (Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word), the end user will see light gray rows in the table.

What’s Noteworthy?

Note If you used print table styles in the past and want to remove them now in favor of the medium method, you can use an option in the Apply Table Style dialog in the Table Style Editor. When this option is enabled, print table styles will be removed from any tables updated by this dialog. See Applying Table Stylesheets to Tables.

Note You can also create special print versions of styles for other topic content. See Setting Styles for Print Output in a Regular Stylesheet.