Column lineup in a Form

[Keith]

Hi, I'm trying to line up columns on a Form and to see whether there is anything that can be done to make the Prompt and Value line up in a more decorous way.

See the attached document for a description and screen shots.

Thanks

Keith

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Bruce]

>> How do I get the Value fields in the second column to line up nicely like the Values in the first column?

Make sure "Last in Cell" is ticked _on_ for the form fields in the first column. ie you currently have
"Last on Line" Off (which is correct, you want the next field to appear on the right) but you also have "Last in Cell" off, and that's causing the next field to be "sqished up".  Typically "Last in Cell" is off when you want one field to be right next to the preceeding field.

>> Also, for the field below, is there a way to either reduce the Value height or to move the Prompt down a bit so that the two of them look as if they’re related!

yes - add a "colon" to the end of that prompt <g>.
But seriously - it's worth "knowing" that HTML always lines up the top of fields by default. You can bump a field down a bit using the
padding-top
css property.

(This is an excellent opportunity to make a tiny custom.css file, add a bit of padding in, and then then apply that new class to either that specific prompt, or all prompts on the window. )

Cheers
Bruce

[Keith]

Hi, this is a follow-up to my original post for which Bruce supplied good info on 'last on line' and 'last in cell' which allowed me to correctly create two columns without them being higgledy-piggiledy. But I then tried to do more complicated things and need more advice.

The problem and my request is mocked up in the attached document.  Thank you for your attention and time.

Keith

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Bruce]

>> Would I be right in saying that they define the width of the ‘cells’?

no. the browser determines the width of the cells, based on all the contents in the cell.
but if there are 4 fields here, then naturally they will (by default) be spread out across the 4 columns.

It is possible to make this top line different - specifically by making fields not "last in cell". If the first 3 are all not "last in cell" then effectively all 4 are in the "first column". This is offset by setting the first field to "span 4 columns" (*)

>> I did toy with the idea of placing a ‘blank’ field that was hidden

blank yes, but hidden, definitly not. For example you could insert a display field (with the display text set to a blank string) between Fly Wheel kw and Fly Wheel hp. That would push Fly Wheel Hp into the 3rd column.

(*) - you don't have this setting yet.

Given that you lack the setting mentioned above, what I'd do is probably set the first 4 (including a blank display field) on the top as all "last in cell, but move Comment to be the Rightmost field of the 4, where it'll have the most space.