CSS table td width - fixed, not flexible
HtmlCssHtml TableHtml Problem Overview
I have a table and I want to set a fixed width of 30px on the td's. the problem is that when the text in the td is too long, the td is stretched out wider than 30px. Overflow:hidden doesn't work either on the td's, I need some way of hiding the overflowing text and keeping the td width 30px.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td>first</td><td>second</td><td>third</td><td>forth</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>first</td><td>this is really long</td><td>third</td><td>forth</td>
</tr>
</table>
Html Solutions
Solution 1 - Html
It's not the prettiest CSS, but I got this to work:
table td {
width: 30px;
overflow: hidden;
display: inline-block;
white-space: nowrap;
}
Examples, with and without ellipses:
body {
font-size: 12px;
font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
table {
border: 1px solid #555;
border-width: 0 0 1px 1px;
}
table td {
border: 1px solid #555;
border-width: 1px 1px 0 0;
}
/* What you need: */
table td {
width: 30px;
overflow: hidden;
display: inline-block;
white-space: nowrap;
}
table.with-ellipsis td {
text-overflow: ellipsis;
}
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td>first</td><td>second</td><td>third</td><td>forth</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>first</td><td>this is really long</td><td>third</td><td>forth</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br />
<table class="with-ellipsis" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td>first</td><td>second</td><td>third</td><td>forth</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>first</td><td>this is really long</td><td>third</td><td>forth</td>
</tr>
</table>
Solution 2 - Html
you also can try to use that:
table {
table-layout:fixed;
}
table td {
width: 30px;
overflow: hidden;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
}
Solution 3 - Html
It is not only the table cell which is growing, the table itself can grow, too. To avoid this you can assign a fixed width to the table which in return forces the cell width to be respected:
table {
table-layout: fixed;
width: 120px; /* Important */
}
td {
width: 30px;
}
(Using overflow: hidden and/or text-overflow: ellipsis is optional but highly recommended for a better visual experience)
So if your situation allows you to assign a fixed width to your table, this solution might be a better alternative to the other given answers (which do work with or without a fixed width)
Solution 4 - Html
The above suggestions trashed the layout of my table so I ended up using:
td {
min-width: 30px;
max-width: 30px;
overflow: hidden;
}
This is horrible to maintain but was easier than re-doing all the existing css for the site. Hope it helps someone else.
Solution 5 - Html
This workaround worked for me...
<td style="white-space: normal; width:300px;">
Solution 6 - Html
Put a div inside td and give following style width:50px;overflow: hidden; to the div
Jsfiddle link
<td>
<div style="width:50px;overflow: hidden;">
<span>A long string more than 50px wide</span>
</div>
</td>
Solution 7 - Html
Chrome 37.
for non fixed table:
td {
width: 30px;
max-width: 30px;
overflow: hidden;
}
first two important! else - its flow away!
Solution 8 - Html
Just divide the number of td to 100%. Example, you have 4 td's:
<html>
<table>
<tr>
<td style="width:25%">This is a text</td>
<td style="width:25%">This is some text, this is some text</td>
<td style="width:25%">This is another text, this is another text</td>
<td style="width:25%">This is the last text, this is the last text</td>
</tr>
</table>
</html>
We use 25% in each td to maximize the 100% space of the entire table