[thelist] Absolute positioned element inside a <td> that has overflow:hidden

Bill Moseley moseley at hank.org
Mon Aug 16 13:53:22 CDT 2010


Let me as the question I should have asked first.

I need a three column layout. The left and right columns can be fixed width
but want a fluid column in the center.  That's easy and there's a ton of
examples online.

But, in my center column I have a table that includes three columns of
user-supplied data.  I have no idea which column for a given use will have
the longest string and the user-data can be very long strings of characters
that the browser will not wrap and if the table is not table-layout: fixed
will push the table width out of the container.

What Gmail does for its inbox, for example, is set overflow: hidden on the
table cells, and sets a fixed width on the table and columns.   This lets
the overflow: hidden work.  Then it uses javascript onresize to reset the
widths so that it appears to be a fluid layout.

Is there another solution to having a fluid layout yet allow overflow:hidden
to work on the table cells?


-- 
Bill Moseley
moseley at hank.org


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