The default layout adds a minimum amount of space between elements in a report. After laying out elements in a report, preview the report in the desired output format to see if you need to adjust the spacing between contents. Reports render differently in the different output formats.

One key difference is the effect of empty grid and table rows in the generated report. In DOC, PPT, and XLS formats, empty rows appear as blank space. For example, if a grid has three rows, but only one row contains content, the DOC, PPT, and XLS reports display two blank lines. In HTML and PDF, an empty row does not appear as blank space unless you set the row to a specific height.

Figure 8‑32 shows the default spacing for report elements in a report design. As the figure shows, a table contains columns of equal width unless you specify explicit column widths. Similarly, the table occupies as much space horizontally as is available unless you specify a value for the table width. The available, or printable, area is determined by the page size and margin sizes of the master page.

Figure 8‑33 shows the report output in HTML. The default layout displays rows of content with very little space between them. The data is displayed in three columns of equal size. The address data fills the second column and is truncated to fit on one line.

Figure 8‑34 shows the same report in PDF format. The PDF report looks similar to the HTML report. The data also appears in three columns of equal size with minimal space between the rows and columns, and data in the address column is truncated.

To display the entire address, you can increase the width of the column or the height of the row. A more practical solution, especially for lengthy blocks of data, is to specify that the text wrap onto as many lines as needed.

The first two techniques provide more predictable results. The padding and margin properties can yield varying results in different web browsers, depending on how the browser interprets these properties.