"Bruce D'Arcus"
Ah, I wasn't being too clear. i want to set up the table formatting in the document header, not within the text. Should I then be using the \setuptables command instead? I don't really understand the difference.
I don't understand the mechanisms very well, I've just spent a week trying to figure out how to manipulate them... You can put all the setup commands in the header/preamble, but, as far as I can tell, its position on the page is not one of the properties a table can have. That is what you are looking for? Maybe someone knowledgable can correct my assumption. On the other hand, with the \setup commands located in the preamble you can still control the position of each table you insert. The position is controlled locally, to the table being placed. The following bit has your \setup commands, then three tables and a little text, and it works as I think you intend: %output=pdftex \setupcolors[state=start] \starttext \definecolor[back-1][r=.8,g=.8,b=.4] \definecolor[back-2][r=.8,g=.8,b=.6] \definecolor[back-3][r=.8,g=.8,b=.8] \setupTABLE[background=color, frame=off, framecolor=white, location=middle, spaecbefore=1*medium, spaceafter=1*medium] \setupTABLE[row][1] [rulethickness=2pt,bottomframe=on] \setupTABLE[row][1] [backgroundcolor=back-1] \setupTABLE[row][odd] [backgroundcolor=back-2] \setupTABLE[row][even][backgroundcolor=back-3] \midaligned{ \bTABLE \bTR \bTD 04400 \eTD \bTD lish exist arra mar fl \eTD \bTD 5000\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 04400 \eTD \bTD pair \& exisfloor \eTD \bTD 1,500\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 04400 \eTD \bTD x $\pm$ 4 5/8 arle bas \eTD \bTD 6,980 \eTD \eTR \eTABLE } The separation of any of these four components would have hurt \TeX\ significantly. If I had not participated fully in all these activities, {\rm literally hundreds of improvements would never have been made, because} I would never have thought of them or perceived why they were important. \bTABLE \bTR \bTD \eTD \bTD aaa\eTD \bTD b\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD \eTD \bTD aaa\eTD \bTD b\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 11\eTD \bTD 111\eTD \bTD 5555\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 22\eTD \bTD 221\eTD \bTD 6655\eTD \eTR \eTABLE \midaligned{ \bTABLE \bTR \bTD \eTD \bTD aaa\eTD \bTD b\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD \eTD \bTD aaa\eTD \bTD b\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 11\eTD \bTD 111\eTD \bTD 5555\eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD 22\eTD \bTD 221\eTD \bTD 6655\eTD \eTR \eTABLE } \stoptext Maybe a little closer... -- Tomasz