General ⇒ Table widths as a percentage of the page width

[tripwire45]

Can you specify the size of a table as a percentage of the total width of the page, rather than as an absolute value (such as 12cm)? I am creating a glossary out of a series of table. Each letter (A, B, C, and so on) is a subsection heading and each list of terms under each subsection is a separate table. Problem is, each table ends up being a different width, depending on the length of the lines in the two columns. I'd like to specify the size of the table so that all tables appear the same width.

I've tried using \resizebox which *does* make all the tables a uniform width, but it also changes the font size within each table accordingly. Here's what I've got right now:

Code: Select all

\subsection*{H}
\begingroup
\centering
\rowcolors{1}{webgreen!15}{}
\begin{tabular}{>{\small}l >{\small}p{8cm} } 
\textbf{Host} & This is a bunch of sample text to give you the general idea of what I'm talking about and how this thing looks right now. \\
\end{tabular}
\endgroup

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi Trip,

try the tabularx package, its designed for tables of certain fixed width. Here ist the documentation.
You could use a width parameter depending on the textwidth, like 0.6\textwidth.

Stefan

[tripwire45]

I'd been reading about tabularc, tabularx, and tabulary, but wasn't sure if they'd fit the bill. Actually, I solved the problem of uniform tables in a completely different way...by specifying the size of both columns in the table thus:

Code: Select all

\subsection*{H}
\begingroup
\centering
\rowcolors{1}{webgreen!15}{}
\begin{tabular}{>{\small}p{3cm} >{\small}p{10cm} } 
\textbf{Host} & This is a bunch of sample text to give you the general idea of what I'm talking about and how this thing looks right now. \\
\end{tabular}
\endgroup

All's well that ends well in the inkwell (if anyone around here's old enough to remember *that* cartoon).