Borders, padding and background color

You may specify the border widths and padding spaces of a cell in all possible four directions: on the left, on the right, at the bottom and at the top (see Table→Cell border). You have keyboard shorthands of the forms M-t b x and M-t p x in order to specify border widths and cell padding.

The default border width for cells in the block environment is 1ln, i.e. the standard line width in the current font (like the width of a fraction bar). This width occurs at the right and the bottom of each cell (except when the cell is on the first row or column). The default horizontal cell padding is 1spc: the width of a white space in the current font. The default vertical cell padding is 1sep: the standard minimal separation between two close boxes.

Cells may be given a background color via Table→Cell background color.

The entire table may also be given a border and a table padding in Table→Special table properties→Border. In this case, the padding occurs outside the border.