You need to add white-space: nowrap;
for text-overflow: ellipsis;
to work.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/ThinkingStiff/Dc7UA/
Output:
CSS:
a {
text-decoration: none;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
display: block;
overflow: hidden;
white-space: nowrap;
width: 80px;
height: 32px;
}