How to wrap table cell at a maximum width in full width table

Question

I'd like to have a table with headers down the left hand side, the headers should be as narrow as possible, and the space for the values should take up the rest of the width of the page. The headers should all be on a single line, unless the content of the header cell is very long, at which point the header should wrap onto multiple lines.

With short content, this works:

<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>

CSS:

table {
    width: 100%;
}

th {
    text-align: right;
    width: 10px;
    white-space: nowrap;
}

However, when I try to add a maximum width, instead of wrapping, the content spills out of the text box:

table {
    width: 100%;
}

th {
    text-align: right;
    width: 10px;
    white-space: nowrap;
    max-width: 300px;
    word-break: break-all;
}

Demo: https://jsfiddle.net/2avm4a6n/

It seems that the white-space: nowrap; style overrides the word-break: break-all;, so the max-width: 300px; causes the text to spill out. I'm using the white-space: nowrap; and width: 10px; combination to make the header column as narrow as possible, without wrapping headers with spaces in below the minimum width, but having just the width: 10px; and the word-break: break-all; causes the headers to wrap into single characters to fit in the narrow 10px.

Any idea how to do this with css?

Answer 1

Remove the table width, from th remove the width, the white-space, and the word-break. Add to the th word-wrap: word-break

I also suggest you to set min-width: 150px or any value you want. Also add this td { width: 100%;}.

Here is the jsFiddle

th {
    text-align: right;
    max-width: 300px;
    min-width: 150px;
    word-wrap: break-word;
}
td {
    width: 100%;
}

<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMassiveHeader</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>

Answer 2

If you know what the data is in the <th> already, you could then wrap the long length text into a <span> tag or so, and adjust the CSS slightly for that.

UPDATED JSFIDDLE

table {
    width: 100%;
}
th {
    text-align: right;
    white-space: nowrap;
}
th span {
    white-space: normal;
    word-break: break-all;
    display: block;
}
td {
    width: 100%;
}

<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th><span>MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMassiveHeader</span></th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>

Answer 3

Let me know if this is what you are looking for:

remove white-space:nowrap and word-break:break-all and add word-wrap:break-word

see snippet below:

table {
    width: 100%;
}

th {
    text-align: right;
    width: 10px;
    max-width: 300px;
    word-wrap:break-word    
}

<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMassiveHeader</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>

UPDATE: OP Comment - may 18th

Thanks, this is close, but it shouldn't wrap the short headers: it should only start wrapping once the header column reaches the max-width

Add a min-width to th that fits you the best. (Note that th which will break words don't receive the min-width) as pointed out by @Pangloss in a comment to another answer.

see snippet below:

table {
    width: 100%;
}

th {
    text-align: right;
    width: 10px;
    min-width:133px; /* change the value for whatever fits you better */
    max-width: 300px;
    word-wrap:break-word    
}

<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>
<br />
<table border="1">
    <tr>
        <th>Short Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>Quite Long Header</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMassiveHeader</th>
        <td>value</td>
    </tr>
</table>