I used to do that with layouts (if it's for a table you are asking for then I don't know if this would work), I think it's the line-height that does that. For a whole lot of text I don't know how it would work, if text would overlap, etc. But for headings and such, a background colour and the height should do the trick. Unless that's not what you meant and I'm totally wrong, in which case someone else should be able to tell you :3