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I'm designing an application with a data table. The data is backed by a C-style string (that is to say, a char array) so I know the maximum theoretical width using my proportionally-spaced typeface.

For example, assume that a string's length can't be greater than 32 characters. Naively, I can say that since "W" is the widest character, the maximum theoretical column width is 32 times the width of "W". But this will pretty much never happen, and if I make my column as wide as 32 "W"'s there'll be a lot of wasted space on average. On the other hand, it's not the end of the world if a string runs long and is truncated; I just want the vast majority of strings to be represented in their entirety.

Is there a back-of-the-envelope calculation for estimating the ideal default column width?

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  • Simply use an existing table that adjusts its column widths depending on what the width of the widest item is in each column. – AndroidHustle Dec 5 '12 at 18:46
  • @AndroidHustle: The table is virtualized and can have over 100,000 items. Unfortunately that's not an option in this case. – James Cronen Dec 5 '12 at 18:52
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a calculation that would be better suited on stackoverflow.com. – Code Maverick Feb 27 '14 at 21:40
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If (as you say) truncation is acceptable, then the question is more about:

  • what you expect the column width do be most of the time
  • what other columns also have to fit next to it
  • how wide the expected screen resolution will be
  • how much can be truncated without being a problem

These are all things that require a subjective evaluation, which you have to make and then test.

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