[Tex/LaTex] Thickness control on vertical and horizontal lines

Question

Regarding this example, having now:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\begin{document}

\arrayrulewidth=0.7pt
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|l|c|c|c|l|}
\cline{1-3}\cline{5-7}
 &  &  &  &  &  &   \\
 &  &  &  &  &  &  \\
 &  &  &  &  &  &  \\
\cline{1-3}\cline{5-7}
 &  &  &  &  &  &  \\
 &  &  &  &  &  &   \\
 &  &  &  &  &  &  \\
\cline{1-3}\cline{5-7}
 &  &  &  &  &  &  \\
 &  &  &  &  &   &  \\
 &  &   &  &  &  &  \\
\cline{1-3}\cline{5-7}
 &  &  &  &  &  &   \\
 &  &   &  &  &  &  \\
 &  &   &  &  &  &  \\
\cline{1-3}\cline{5-7}
\end{tabular}

\end{document} 

The command \arrayrulewidth=0.7pt controls the thickness for both vertical and horizontal lines, but now I want to reduce the thickness of the inner lines (both vertical and horizontal), and keep the thickness of the external lines.

---

I wanted to add color to the table but I couldn't. I used \arrayrulecolor{[color here]} but in only colored the inner lines, and I want to color the whole table.

Answer 1

Since you requested it, here's a solution for a split version of the table i.e. 2 tables rather than 1. Here, we remove the outer lines from the tabular specifications and wrap them in boxes. efbox allows us to specify the rule colour, line width and margin. To make the box fit closely, eliminating any gap between the rules and the table, we set the margin to zero. The line width is then set to 0.7pt and \arrayrulewidth can be left as default or altered as desired. All we need do is set the colours of the box rules and the \arrayrulecolor to the colour(s) we desire. Here, I use a shade of blue.

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{efbox}
\efboxsetup{linecolor=blue!75!black, linewidth=.7pt, margin=0pt}
\begin{document}
\arrayrulecolor{blue!75!black}
\efbox{\begin{tabular}{c|c|l}
  &  &       \\
  &  &      \\
  &  &     \\
  \hline
  &  &       \\
  &  &      \\
  &  &     \\
  \hline
  &  &      \\
  &  &      \\
  &  &     \\
  \hline
  &  &       \\
  &  &     \\
  &  &     \\
\end{tabular}}
\efbox{\begin{tabular}{c|c|l}
  &  &       \\
  &  &      \\
  &  &     \\
  \hline
  &  &       \\
  &  &      \\
  &  &     \\
  \hline
  &  &      \\
  &  &      \\
  &  &     \\
  \hline
  &  &       \\
  &  &     \\
  &  &     \\
\end{tabular}}
\end{document}