tables and cell padding Options

[*mona lisa*]

Is there a way I can modify the cellpadding of a table using CSS? When I use the following, there is too much space from the top and bottom. Cellpadding apparently affects all four sides for each cell of the table.

CODE

<table align="middle" width="716" height="500" background="images/template_middle.png" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="17">

I want to squish it as shown here:


I have the whole thing in a table so that I can use an autostretching table with a repeating vertical background.

I tried using CSS but it didn't exactly work out.

CODE

td.content {
font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Sans-serif;
font-size: 13px;
color: #000000;
cellpadding-left:11px;
cellpadding-top:5px;
cellpadding-right:11px;
cellpadding-bottom:5px; }