Creating Accessible Tables (Movie 03:00)

Add a Table (Blackboard Help)

Click the insert/edit table function to begin adding a table in the text area. Alternatively, you can use the insert/edit table command from the right-click contextual menu.

Most of the table functions are unavailable (grayed out) unless you place the mouse pointer inside an existing table.

General Tab

On the General tab, you can:

  • Row Type: Set whether the row is a header, body, or footer.
  • Alignment: Set the alignment of the row’s cell contents to center, left, or right.
  • Vertical alignment: Set the alignment of the row’s cell contents to top, center, or bottom.
  • Class: Set the row content HTML class. If classes are not used, ignore this setting.
  • Height: Manually set the height of the row. Otherwise, the row expands or contracts as needed to fit the contents.

From the drop-down list at the bottom of the window, select to:

  • Update the current row or selected rows only (default).
  • Update odd rows in the table.
  • Update even rows in the table.
  • Update all rows in the table.

Advanced Tab

On the Advanced tab, you can set additional row properties.

  • ID: Type a row description or identifier.
  • Style: Allow HTML code overrides for the placement, size, appearance, and border.
  • Language Direction: Set whether text entered in the row goes from left to right or right to left from the mouse pointer position.
  • Language Code: Assign a language code to a row—used in translations.
  • Background Image: Use a graphic image to appear as a background for a row. You can provide a URL to create a link to an image file outside of the local system.
    • To upload a file from your computer, click Browse My Computer.
    • To upload a file from the course’s storage repository:
      • If Course Files is the course’s storage repository, click Browse Course.-OR-
      • If your school licenses content management, click Browse Content Collection.
  • Background Color: Set the background color for the row.

Cell Properties

Click the table cell properties function to open the Table Cell Properties window. You can set formatting parameters to control how the contents of a table cell or selected cells will appear.

Row Properties

Click inside an existing table and click the table row properties function to open the Table Row Properties window. You can set formatting parameters to control how the contents of a table row or selected rows will appear.

Editing Tables

Click inside an existing table to make the table editing functions active in the content editor.


FunctionDescription
create table buttonClick to open the Insert/Edit Table window. If clicked inside a table, a new table is created inside the first one.
table row properties buttonClick to open the Table Row Properties window.
table cell properties buttonClick to open the Table Cell Properties window.
insert row above buttonInsert a blank row before the current mouse pointer position.
insert row below buttonInsert a blank row after the current mouse pointer position.
delete row buttonDelete the current row from the table. If you select multiple columns, all of them are deleted.
insert column to the left buttonInsert a blank column to the left of (preceding) the current mouse pointer position.
insert column to the right buttonInsert a blank column to the right of (following) the current mouse pointer position.
delete column buttonDelete the current column from the table. If you select multiple columns, all of them are deleted.
merge cells buttonMerge two or more selected cells into a single table cell.
split cells buttonSplit previously merged table cells. If the cell or cells are not ones that were merged, nothing happens.

To resize a table, in addition to using table, row, or cell properties, you can also press and drag one of the table border anchors. These are positioned at each of the table corners—to make the entire table larger or smaller. You will also find them in the middle of each side—left, right, top, and bottom—to resize the table horizontally or vertically.

Right-Click Contextual Menus

You can also right-click anywhere inside an existing table to access a contextual menu. Select Insert/Edit Table to access some editing properties for an existing table.