Equal Column Width Implementation

Summary

Updated all tables in the physician book to have equal column widths, replacing the previous proportional width distribution.

Changes Made

File Modified

AtoZ_Physicians/table-styles.css

Key Changes

1. Changed Table Layout Algorithm

/* BEFORE: */
table {
  table-layout: auto !important;  /* Content-based widths */
}

/* AFTER: */
table {
  table-layout: fixed !important;  /* Equal column widths */
}

2. Removed All Custom Width Rules

  • Removed 5-column table rules (History: 20%, Examination: 18%, Laboratory: 20%, Diagnostics: 22%, Diagnosis: 20%)
  • Removed 2-column table rules (30% / 70% split)
  • Removed 3-column table rules (33.33% each)
  • Removed 4-column table rules (25% each)

3. Simplified Column Distribution

With table-layout: fixed, the browser automatically distributes column widths equally without any explicit width rules needed.

How It Works

CSS table-layout: fixed Property

When set to fixed, the browser: 1. Divides the total table width equally among all columns 2. Ignores content length when calculating widths 3. Provides consistent, predictable column sizing 4. Improves rendering performance (no content measurement needed)

Example

For a 5-column differential diagnosis table: - Each column gets exactly 20% of the table width (100% ÷ 5 = 20%) - For a 3-column table: Each gets 33.33% (100% ÷ 3) - For a 2-column table: Each gets 50% (100% ÷ 2)

Benefits

✅ Consistency: All tables have perfectly equal columns ✅ Simplicity: No complex width calculations or special cases ✅ Performance: Faster rendering (browser doesn’t measure content) ✅ Maintainability: Fewer CSS rules to manage ✅ Text wrapping: Content wraps properly with word-wrap: break-word and hyphens: auto

Features Preserved

The following table styling features remain unchanged: - ✅ Zebra striping (alternate row backgrounds) - ✅ Hover effects (row highlighting) - ✅ Green header borders (#1C7C54) - ✅ Proper text wrapping and hyphenation - ✅ List item formatting within cells - ✅ Responsive design (tablet/mobile breakpoints) - ✅ Print optimization - ✅ Typography enhancements

Testing

All tables throughout the physician book now display with equal column widths: - 5-column tables (differential diagnosis): 20% each - 4-column tables: 25% each - 3-column tables: 33.33% each - 2-column tables: 50% each

Deployment

The changes are automatically applied to all rendered HTML pages in the AtoZ_Physicians directory.

git add AtoZ_Physicians/table-styles.css
git commit -m "Update tables to use equal column widths"
git push

Netlify will rebuild and deploy with the updated table styling.

Status: ✅ Complete Impact: All tables in physician book Date: November 20, 2025