slicing, dicing and adjustable tables

[Crooner]

I'm a PHP programmer forced to do some design work on low budget projects. My problem is getting tables to work out properly with my sliced layout designs.

I like scalable tables (resize with the browser) set to 98% or so. I typically slice my templates trying to think about areas that I can use for backgrounds in the table cells, etc.

Problem is that my alignments are too hit or miss - By the time I'm done merging, splitting and creating table cells sometimes they work out and sometimes they take forever to make presentable. Sometimes, I just start over.

Are there specific rules of thumb that 'real' graphics folks use or is it just trial and error?

Thanks

[qamar]

Have you tried something like fireworks. It will not only slice the images but also create the html for the table.

Qamar

[Crooner]

Yes, I use Fireworks which creates FIXED WIDTH tables with spacers in the top row to set the alignment.

To make adjustable width, I remove the alignment data for a few of the center columns and then play with background .gif's to make it look half right.

Like I said, a lot of trial and error - just didn't know if there was a faster way....

[russbellon]

it's easier to slice up layouts one table at a time and then composite them in your html editor. i think you can also turn off the invisible gif spacers in fireworks somewhere (i know you can in imageready); you won't need them as you'll be writing the main (outside) table in your editor anyway. none of the automated slicing programs will give you much more than that for proportional tables.