word-wrap does not work in IE

Question

Word-wrap as follows:

    /* The Breakage of Too Long Words */

div.break_word {
    width: 690px;
    word-wrap: break-word;
}

does wrap the word for the following table, but it also keeps the table stretched:

I used it in this portion of the table:

        <!--  The Contribution Description -->
        <tr>
            <td colspan="3"><div class="break_word"><p><?php echo $contribution_description; ?></p></div></td>
        </tr>

        <!--  The Separation Line -->
        <tr>
            <td colspan="3"></td>
        </tr>

        <!--  The Contribution -->
        <tr>
            <td colspan="3"><pre><div class="break_word"><?php echo $contribution; ?></div></pre></td>
        </tr>

</table>

Does it keep it stretched, because it is overall a table and not a div? Or for which reason does it not stretch back, because the word is indeed wrapped.

Answer 1

As word-wrap is a CSS3 property, it is only supported by IE9 and higher. For IE8 try

-ms-word-wrap

So try

div.break_word {
    width: 690px;
    word-wrap: break-word;
    -ms-word-wrap: break-word;
}

Hope this helps.

Update

It seems that even if you use -ms-word-wrap in IE7, it defaults the white-space: nowrap; which then overrides the word-wrap property.

Once again a IE hack is required. Try adding this for IE7.

white-space: normal;