Pages stops column width, why?

Are you really using Pages '09 ?
As far as I know neither Pages '08 nor Pages '09 allow us to have different cells widths in a given column.
Only older versions (using an other code to rule tables) offered this feature.

Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) jeudi 16 décembre 2010 09:30:54

Will,

Inspector shows that you have 9 columns. From the screen shot we can only see a few of the cell borders, so the rest have been assigned either white or no line. There are limitations as to the minimum column width, and of course you can't drag one border all the way across another column. I suggest that you make all the borders visible and start over with trying to make the lot of them seem to be a fewer number with some of the cells merged or their borders hidden. Merging causes all manner of downstream problems, as your example gives witness to.

Jerry

Message was edited by: Jerrold Green1

You are right, my eyes aren't that good, I guess, to distinguish an 8 from a 9 in your screen shot. The point is that, if my count is correct, the most cells on a row is 4, so you have either merged or split to get more columns in your table than are displayed. I'll take your word for how you did it because there is no way to tell by looking at your screenshot.

I don't like the idea of either splitting or merging table cells in Numbers because it causes other things not to work, like sorting and adding or deleting rows or columns later.

But, if you are bent on doing it, here's how I would approach it. Start over. Create a table that has enough columns to provide all the border lines you need for your ultimate layout. Every border line at a different distance from the edge of the table will require a column, and then of course there will be one more line on the right. (One more line than columns.) Now that you have borders everywhere you need them, and won't be moving them in the future, go into the table and select cells that straddle the line segments you want to eliminate and Merge them.

If you are in the process of setting the line locations and can't get lines close enough together, you have run into a minimum column size limitation. I believe the minimum column width is 0.11 inches. I don't know what you are trying to achieve, but it seems that if you get to within 0.11 inches of where you want a line, that would be good enough and one location would do instead of two.

Regards,

Jerry

Pages tables are not the best for forms if they are going to be filled in on the computer. Do those who shall fill the form in have Pages? Or are you going to print the form to paper first?

An idea is to use text boxes stacked side by side and above each other. Then group them.

Will,

"Numbers" was another slip-up on my part. I normally relate tables to Numbers. The advice is the same, regardless of which program you are in.

It doesn't look like you are doing any calculations in your table, right? Just making a form for input? It makes little difference where you do it, but the tools are a bit different, so work where you are most comfortable.

Jerry

WillDuffy wrote:
Thanks for the help Jerry. I'm still a bit confused at your mention of Numbers. I'm in Pages, so should I be in Numbers? Maybe Pages is the wrong program in the first place, so let's start over. If I were to try and create a form like the one here --> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11608065/hospital_questionnaire.gif what program would I use?

(I don't need the Chinese characters though.) Notice the different column widths in each row and how each row has a different amount of columns.

In tables of iWork '08 and '09, the only way to get rows with different amount of columns is to merge some cells in a row.
This is why I asked you if you where really using Pages '09.

It's quite easy (less than 5 minutes) to build a table resembling to yours:



I started with a 11 columns table.
To match more closely your table it would be useful to start with more columns, maybe 22.

Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 20 décembre 2010 17:36:48

For fillable PDFs is Adobe acrobat the best application, I've heard. Pages isn't the tool for it.

WillDuffy wrote:
Thanks Yvan. The problem is that I'm new to Macs and their programs. Your example looks great. Hope I can do it in 5 minutes! I'd also like on my form for there to be no visible columns. Is that easy to do as well?

It requires a few seconds (in fact, I spent them to replace the light grey borders by black ones ;-( )

You must enter the Inspector > Tables



then



You will get a table with no borders at all.

Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 20 décembre 2010 19:29:59