The problem is...
...that we have people here who simply create a table, then want to "fancy it up" by using Tables|AutoFormat to use one of the oh-so-k3wl predefined table formats. Unfortunately, the oh-so-k3wl format that is in vogue here uses a borders-and-shading setting that has both a background color and a 25% dithering setting. 25% dithering basically obliterates the text on the screen, and to a lesser degree, the printed page as well. (Hello, Microsoft? Has anybody there ever done any usability testing with your oh-so-k3wl designs? No? Gee...I couldn't tell [image|/forums/images/warning.png|0|This is sarcasm...]
.) And, since both the color and the dithering are part of the borders-and-shading subsection of Turd Word, disabling "Shading" on the auto-format dialog removes both the dithering (good!) and the shading (not good!). Finally, the in vogue format only colors/dithers every other row, so manually "fixing" it is an immense PITA (which is, of course, par for a Microsoft product).
So if these li'l gems were to somehow be made available for making them do what I want (instead of what Micros~1 wants -- what a concept!), then everyone here can still use the oh-so-k3wl templates, and we can read the result.
Using the Table bar can result in the same look, but it will cost both time and effort on the part of the author, and since the authors find the task at hand to be...er, somewhat less that interesting to them (they areSW Engineers, after all)...using the Table bar is not an option. But thanx for the pointer....
jb4
"Every Repbulican who wants to defend Bush on [the expansion of Presidential powers], should be forced to say, 'I wouldn't hesitate to see President Hillary Rodham Clinton have the same authority'."
&mdash an unidentified letter writer to Newsweek on the expansion of executive powers under the Bush administration