Setting max-height for table cell contents

Html Problem Overview

I have a table which should always occupy a certain percentage of the height of the screen. Most of the rows are of fixed height, but I have one row that should stretch to fill the available space. In the event that the contents of a cell in that row overflows the desired height, I'll like the contents to clip using overflow:hidden.

Unfortunately, tables and rows do not respect the max-height property. (This is in the W3C spec). When there is too much text in the cell, the table gets taller, instead of sticking to the specified percentage.

I can get the table cell to behave if I specify a fixed height in pixels for it, but that defeats the purpose of having it automatically stretch to fill available space.

I've tried using divs, but can't seem to find the magic formula. If I use divs with display:table, :table-row, and :table-cell the divs act just like a table.

Any clues on how I can simulate a max-height property on a table?

<head>
    <style>
        table {
            width: 50%;
            height: 50%;
            border-spacing: 0;
        }
        td {
            border: 1px solid black;
        }
        .headfoot {
            height: 20px;
        }
        #content {
            overflow: hidden;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table>
    <tr class="headfoot"><td>header</td></tr>
    <tr>
        <td>
        <div id="content">
            put lots of text here
        </div>
        </td>
        <tr>
    <tr class="headfoot"><td>footer</td></tr>
</table>
</body>

Html Solutions

Solution 1 - Html

Just put the labels in a div inside the TD and put the height and overflow.. like below.

<table>
<tr>
  <td><div style="height:40px; overflow:hidden">Sample</div></td>
  <td><div style="height:40px; overflow:hidden">Text</div></td>
  <td><div style="height:40px; overflow:hidden">Here</div></td>
</tr>
</table>

Solution 2 - Html

We finally found an answer of sorts. First, the problem: the table always sizes itself around the content, rather than forcing the content to fit in the table. That limits your options.

We did it by setting the content div to display:none, letting the table size itself, and then in javascript setting the height and width of the content div to the inner height and width of the enclosing td tag. Show the content div. Repeat the process when the window is resized.

Solution 3 - Html

Possibly not cross browser but I managed get this: http://jsfiddle.net/QexkH/

basically it requires a fixed height header and footer. and it absolute positions the table.

    table {
        width: 50%;
        height: 50%;
        border-spacing: 0;
        position:absolute;
    }
    td {
        border: 1px solid black;
    }
    #content {
        position:absolute;
        width:100%;
        left:0px;
        top:20px;
        bottom:20px;
        overflow: hidden;
    }

Solution 4 - Html

What I found !!!, In tables CSS td{height:60px;} works same as CSS td{min-height:60px;}

I know that situation when cells height looks bad . This javascript solution don't need overflow hidden.

For Limiting max-height of all cells or rows in table with Javascript:

This script is good for horizontal overflow tables.

This script increase the table width 300px each time (maximum 4000px) until rows shrinks to max-height(160px) , and you can also edit numbers as your need.

var i = 0, row, table = document.getElementsByTagName('table')[0], j = table.offsetWidth;
while (row = table.rows[i++]) {
    while (row.offsetHeight > 160 && j < 4000) {
        j += 300;
        table.style.width = j + 'px';
    }
}

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31899073/html-table-solution-max-height-limit-for-rows-or-cells-by-increasing-table-width/

Solution 5 - Html

I've solved just using this plugin: http://dotdotdot.frebsite.nl/

it automatically sets a max height to the target and adds three dots

Solution 6 - Html

I had the same problem with a table layout I was creating. I used Joseph Marikle's solution but made it work for FireFox as well, and added a table-row style for good measure. Pure CSS solution since using Javascript for this seems completely unnecessary and overkill.

html

<div class='wrapper'>
    <div class='table'>
        <div class='table-row'>
            <div class='table-cell'>
                content here
            </div>
            <div class='table-cell'>
                <div class='cell-wrap'>
                    lots of content here
                </div>
            </div>
            <div class='table-cell'>
                content here
            </div>
            <div class='table-cell'>
                content here
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

css

.wrapper {height: 200px;}
.table {position: relative; overflow: hidden; display: table; width: 100%; height: 50%;}
.table-row {display: table-row; height: 100%;}
.table-cell {position: relative; overflow: hidden; display: table-cell;}
.cell-wrap {position: absolute; overflow: hidden; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;}

You need a wrapper around the table if you want the table to respect a percentage height, otherwise you can just set a pixel height on the table element.

Solution 7 - Html

Another way around it that may/may not suit but surely the simplest:

td {
    display: table-caption;
}

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	ccleve	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Html	keithics	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Html	ccleve	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Html	Joseph Marikle	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Html	Mr. Rick	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Html	Francesco Borzi	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Html	cellen	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Html	zak	View Answer on Stackoverflow