Some techie help please.

[busyglen]

Could someone help a thicko who's pulling her hair out of an already thinning head please!

I have a page of data that I want to add to a website which will be in two columns. It is simply a list of names, and one would be forgiven for thinking that this is a really easy job, however, I seem to have lost the plot.

It will look something like this:

CARDBOARD,JE BLUEBELL, PL TABLEMOUTH, ER PEASANT, WA (wrong)

etc. etc. (about 157 names)

I use FrontPage 2003 (I know old hat, but I am use to it) so I started a new page, put in the coding for the headings etc. and started to type the list. First off, I added the names down the left hand side, and then went up to the top and started on the middle. Of course this meant I had to keep arrowing over after each name as there were no tabs. Then I left some names off that were over the page so had to insert them. Not a problem, until it made a gap on the opposite list.

OK...let's put them in a table with two cells. Same problem, I suppose because I did one column and then started the other, it wouldn't synchronise. So....how can I do this fairly simply please?

Upon reflection, would it work if I sorted out which names were going in each columns (they are alphabetical by the way) and put them in a 2 cell table, working from the left to the right hand columns each time instead of completing the left first?

I guess I'm making a dog's dinner out of this, and it's obviously a simple task. I've used tables before, to record burial records etc, but I go across each cell before moving down. This is the first time I have done a simple list.

Being mostly self-taught, I am apt to miss something that's staring me in the face, so would be grateful if someone could put me out of my misery please.

Glenys

Sorry, the same thing happens here! The names were in two columns but when saved they have gone into one!

[arthurk]

Hi Glenys

From my limited knowledge of HTML (and total ignorance of FrontPage) I don't think there is an automatic way to do what you want. I have one or two thoughts, but I think others may have better ones so I don't mind if they give you a proper answer before I do. First, though, I think it might help to know roughly how many names there are in the list, and if you are going to want to add more later.

Arthur

[Sue Mackay]

I use Front Page 2003 for my croquet website precisely because I don't have to have any knowlege of Code.

Once I have the blank page, I make sure that it is set to Design on the bottom left banner.

I then proceed to type exactly as I would in Word

Admittedly columns can be a pain. I usually insert a Table and then hide the borders.

[busyglen]

Hi Glenys

From my limited knowledge of HTML (and total ignorance of FrontPage) I don't think there is an automatic way to do what you want. I have one or two thoughts, but I think others may have better ones so I don't mind if they give you a proper answer before I do. First, though, I think it might help to know roughly how many names there are in the list, and if you are going to want to add more later.

Arthur

Thanks for replying Arthur.

There will be 137 names in this list and it will not be added to. It forms a list of people living in a village that has been pulled down and which I am reviving in a website.

Glenys

[busyglen]

I use Front Page 2003 for my croquet website precisely because I don't have to have any knowlege of Code.

Once I have the blank page, I make sure that it is set to Design on the bottom left banner.

I then proceed to type exactly as I would in Word

Admittedly columns can be a pain. I usually insert a Table and then hide the borders.

Thank you Sue.

I set the page to Design as well, and then sometimes switch to the code in order to get rid of something that is not needed.

I also use the table with hidden borders on some of my pages. This is a second venture for me as the first website was a learning curve and I might re-work that one day, although I do keep it up to date.

Failing any further ideas, I'll try my recent idea, which means I will have to re-set it out in order to be able to copy it over and put it into 2 cells.

Glenys

[Mutley]

I think you do something like this but I have probably missed off a crucial slash or something .


[TABLE WIDTH=100%]
[TR][TD WIDTH=50%]
Left hand column text in here.
[TD WIDTH=50%]
Right hand column text in here.
[/TABLE]

[busyglen]

I think you do something like this.

[TABLE WIDTH=100%]
[TR][TD WIDTH=50%]
Left hand column text in here.
[TD WIDTH=50%]
Right hand column text in here.
[/TABLE]

Thanks Mutters, I'll have a play later and see what happens.

Glenys

[Neil Wilson]

I think you do something like this but I have probably missed off a crucial slash or something .

<table border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="50%">Left hand column text in here.</td>
<td width="50%">Right hand column text in here.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Second row left</td>
<td>Second row right</td>
</tr>
</table>


Nearly right Mutley

[arthurk]

See - told you someone else would answer The fact that you're not going to change it helps, but the question about numbers was because I was wondering if it might be feasible when using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface to do some kind of drag and drop.

What I had in mind was whether you could start with a simple table with one cell width and enter all the names. Then add a second column to the right, and drag the entries from the lower half of the first column into it; then delete the empty rows at the bottom of the table. However I don't know if this is even possible in Front Page. (Actually, from an appearance point of view, if the entries are only a surname and initials, then unless the text is fairly large I think you'd probably have room for 3 or even 4 columns, but that's up to you.)

The only other thing I could think of was to use a Monospace font such as Courier New, where every character is exactly the same width. It presumably wouldn't look the same as the rest of the page, but it does mean you can line things up without using tables.

Arthur

[Mutley]

Thanks Neil, I was in a hurry and I knew I'd missed off a couple of </TD> somewhere.

The only other thing I could think of was to use a Monospace font such as Courier New, where every character is exactly the same width.

That's what I did..... but I did not know.... that I should have done.

It is often difficult to show someone because if it works then they see it working and not the fiddly stuff that makes it work. That is how I knew I had it wrong. Neil's <*> shows how, the[*] does the job.