How to create a dynamic width column in Twitter Bootstrap

Table like structure using the old table tag

Just kidding – or am i not.

<table class="table">
  <tr><th>Id</th>     <th>Name</th>      <th>Email address</th></tr>
  <tr><td>100001</td> <td>Joe</td>       <td>[email protected]</td></tr>
  <tr><td>100</td>    <td>Christine</td> <td>[email protected]</td></tr>
  <tr><td>1001</td>   <td>John</td>      <td>[email protected]</td></tr>
</table>

Using the grid system

In the documentation about the bootstrap grid system i could not find any auto-width building blocks. Everything out of the box has a certain width and a fixed number of columns:

   <div class="row">
      <div class="span2">ID</div>
      <div class="span2">Name</div>
      <div class="span8">E-Mail</div>
    </div>
    <div class="row">
      <div class="span2">100001</div>
      <div class="span2">Joe</div>
      <div class="span8">[email protected]</div>
    </div>
        <div class="row">
      <div class="span2">100</div>
      <div class="span2">Christine</div>
      <div class="span8">[email protected]</div>
    </div>

Therefore i assume that you have to build your own version for a 3-column-table with auto-size.

In my demo the grid-column wraps if the space is to narrow or, if the space is too wide, the columns are stretched.

Update with creative markup

I updated my demo with a custom class. The creative markup comes close to what you are looking for

  <div class="row">
      <div class="spanFl">100000001 <br />
        100
      </div>
      <div class="spanFl">Joe <br/>
          Christine
      </div>
      <div class="spanFl">[email protected] <br />
        [email protected]
      </div>
  </div>    

Using css-3 display table

On tutsplus i found an article using css-3 display:table to set up a table like layout. Unless you use three divs for each row it does not solve row wrapping issues.

#content {  
    display: table;  
}  
#mainContent {  
    display: table-cell;  
    width: 620px;  
    padding-right: 22px;  
}  
aside {  
    display: table-cell;  
    width: 300px;  
}  

Bootstrap responsive design

As far as i understood the bootstrap documentation there is no built-in soultion for a 3-column layout with auto and remaining width. To Quote the responsive design page on bootstrap: “Use media queries responsibly and only as a start to your mobile audiences. For larger projects, do consider dedicated code bases and not layers of media queries.”

Could you elaborate more why you can not use a table?