Framing a combination of cells in the notebook

Question

In my notebook, I have the following cells, which I tried to put around a single frame with a light blue background color.

After entering the cells, I selected all four, then clicked the frame button in the Writing Assistant palette. Unfortunately, I did not get a single frame.

Can some suggest how I can get just a single frame around all four cells? The centered cells are from the Writing Assistant, Math Cells, Centered Math Cell.

They do not match what I want:

Perhaps I should ask how can put all of my writing in one cell.

Thank you, Mr. Wizard:

I selected the four cells, then used Mr. Wizard's Frame Multiple Cells button, which was created by his code, and here is the result:

I added the red color to the word definition after using Mr. Wizard's button.

Using the Writing Assistant Pallete:

It turns out that if I select my four cells, then click on the Merge Cells icon on the Writing Assistant tablet, it's done! Then use the Writing Assistant tablet to add a frame and color the background.

Answer 1

This question is closely related to Automatically use InputOnly style and it can also be done with CellFrame and CellMargins. Here is a Button to automate the process.

Button["Frame Multiple Cells",
  With[{cells = Cells[NotebookSelection[InputNotebook[]]]},
   MapThread[
    Function[{frame, pos},
     MapAt[
      SetOptions[#,
        CellMargins -> {{66, 10}, {0, 0}},
        CellFrame   -> {{2, 2}, frame},
        Background  -> LightBlue] &,
      cells,
      pos
     ]
    ],
    {{{0, 2}, {0, 0}, {2, 0}}, {1, 2 ;; -2, -1}}
   ]
  ]
] // CreatePalette

Notes:

• Setting a Background color affects the spacing of the cells; without it they squeeze together.

• To keep the frame continuous to the Output cell I had to disable automatic grouping.