I need a table where the left column is fixed. So I use the FixedColumns plugin. The problem with the FixedColumn plugin is that all your other rows must remain on a single line otherwise you have height alignment issues. The documentation doesn't seem to mention is that, at least not obviously. Fine, throw in a "white-space:nowrap;" for your table <td>s and call it a day.
However, cells not being able to wrap is horrible for UX because when you switch pages, your data changes - the length of your columns are now dynamic. It is a really bad feeling to have your vision forcibly blurred by a resizing table: what you were looking at just a second ago is now off your screen in a scrollbar.
I looked into maybe having resizable column headers as this is the only reasonable way to solve this issue and it is a staple feature in grid software, but there are no solid options.
This is saddening because I spent the last week learning and working with DataTables. I really didn't expect it to lack such basic table functionality.
However, cells not being able to wrap is horrible for UX because when you switch pages, your data changes - the length of your columns are now dynamic. It is a really bad feeling to have your vision forcibly blurred by a resizing table: what you were looking at just a second ago is now off your screen in a scrollbar.
I looked into maybe having resizable column headers as this is the only reasonable way to solve this issue and it is a staple feature in grid software, but there are no solid options.
This is saddening because I spent the last week learning and working with DataTables. I really didn't expect it to lack such basic table functionality.