Title: Table Width/Padding Issue
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Table Width/Padding Issue

 *  Resolved [Laverneus Dinglefoot](https://wordpress.org/support/users/laverneus-dinglefoot/)
 * (@laverneus-dinglefoot)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/table-widthpadding-issue/)
 * I have seen a bunch of table width questions, and I have tried using the code
   in each of them, to no avail. I use tables in almost every post, so my goal is
   to apply custom CSS to all tables and knock it all out at once.
 * I tried using this code:
 *     ```
       .tablepress .column-1 {
       	padding-right: 4px;
       	padding-left: 4px;
       }
       ```
   
 * And I did it for several columns, but all that happened was the cells got smaller
   vertically rather than horizontally. Ideally, I would like it so that the width
   of the cells is only slightly greater than the width of the text therein.
 * Here are a few examples of how these tables look:
 * [Table at bottom, tons of padding in the “team” column.](http://nflsgreatest.co.nf/glossary/)
 * [Several tables, all sorts of different paddings on each.](http://nflsgreatest.co.nf/afl-and-aafc/)
 * [Lots of space left after names. Longest name is “Roethlisberger,” but still padding to the right.](http://nflsgreatest.co.nf/2014/05/true-quarterback-rating/)
 * [Single digits, columns still very wide.](http://nflsgreatest.co.nf/2014/05/definitive-sos-nfc-edition/)
 * Thanks in advance for your help and for an awesome product.
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/)

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/table-widthpadding-issue/#post-4887007)
 * Hi,
 * thanks for your post, and sorry for the trouble.
 * The problem here is not actually the padding, but simply that the tables are 
   stretched to full width (100% of the content area) automatically.
    You could 
   try changing that with some CSS like
 *     ```
       .dataTables_wrapper .tablepress {
         width: auto;
       }
       ```
   
 * but I’d actually leave it as it is, or maybe set the column widths of some columns
   only.
 * Regards,
    Tobias
 *  Thread Starter [Laverneus Dinglefoot](https://wordpress.org/support/users/laverneus-dinglefoot/)
 * (@laverneus-dinglefoot)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/table-widthpadding-issue/#post-4887029)
 * I was hoping I could get away with being lazy, but I guess not. Thanks for the
   help, as always, Tobias.
 *  Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * (@tobiasbg)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/table-widthpadding-issue/#post-4887035)
 * Hi,
 * the CSS change is pretty simple, but as you are also using the “Search” feature,
   you’d have problems with the alignment of the search input fields, so changing
   the width is really not worth it.
 * Best wishes,
    Tobias

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Table Width/Padding Issue’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/tablepress/assets/icon.svg?rev=3192944)
 * [TablePress - Tables in WordPress made easy](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/reviews/)

## Tags

 * [column width](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/column-width/)
 * [padding](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/padding/)
 * [spacing](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/spacing/)
 * [width](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/width/)

 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/)
 * Last activity: [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/table-widthpadding-issue/#post-4887035)
 * Status: resolved