KML Balloon Width

[GerbilGod7]

I've been using the GE Examples file and the KML tutorial to write some info balloons. They've got a bunch of text, but I can't seem to find what parameters control the width of the balloon. The one in the GE HTML examples file is nice and small with a side scrollbar, but mine just widens as I add text. I have my text in a placemark inside description, CDATA, and p tags, same as the example file, as far as I can tell.

[tekgergedan]

Hi

Add <table width="300"><tr><td> to the begining and
</td></tr></table> to the end of your description.

At first, your baloon will be still wide; a caching problem. Cut and paste the whole description several times and it will be fixed. (If still doesnt get fixed, try to edit the kml in the same way and reopen it by double-clicking)

[GerbilGod7]

Worked perfectly, thanks!

[GerbilGod7]

Just a small point... When I do this, the sides of the table seem to be buffered out a little bit on the left (like an indent), and substantially on the right (like several indents). This doesn't happen without the table tags, regardless of the width of the text, so it has something to do with the way the table is being interpreted. Any idea what that is?

[tekgergedan]

My experience is that the right side is always wider than the left side; maybe because of the closing icon.

I dont know how much indent you see on the left but it will differ from a text because it is a pure <table> tag. Try this

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300">

and even this

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300" align="left">

[LuciaM]

GG,

Are you including an image in your balloon? If you are, check that its width does not exceed the table width that you entered.

I've found that the border on the right is slightly wider than that on the left.
As Tek said, it seems to relate to the 'close' icon. It's even worse when you have a long placemark which needs the scroll bar on the right. In that case, the width of the scroll does not seem to be considered in the sizing. (If you want to see what happens with the scroll bar present, just make the GE window small enough so the entire placemark cannot fit.) The difference occurs (I think) because the table width you specify only impacts the description field itself, as opposed to the entire kml. I don't think there is a way to set the balloon width at a high enough level within the kml structure to force the width to be a specific size regardless of any scroll bar or close tab.

I've fiddled around with some different formats, using tables nested in tables as well as the <p align=(justify/center/left> html. I'll attach two examples.

One other thing: if you use the <p> tags, GE seems to not like having the usual html linebreak tag within the <p></p> tags! It creates spaces between words when the linebreak tag is present. If I need a linebreak, I use an extra <p>tag itself to accomplish that.

Also, can you attach a copy of your placemark if you reply?

[LuciaM]

NB There is a header image in this placemark which is in the kml itself, so you will not see it in the description.

[GerbilGod7]

Besides the Balloon formatting, I just got the rest of my KML up to spec, so I'm a little bit KMLed out for today since it's nearly 1am already, but I thought I'd attach a copy of my KML (which I should have done in the first place). I was also having a little trouble with using justified text, and it seemed like the KML would ignore my <br> tags inside <p>s unless I used a couple of them.

Please excuse my formatting... I tend to not indent so that I can see more code at once.

Thanks!