[ . C O L S . . s a m p l e r . . ]

No COLS

<TABLE BORDER>
  <TR><TD>a word <TD>many ... many words
</TABLE>

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With COLS

<TABLE BORDER COLS=2>
  <TR><TD>a word <TD>many ... many words
</TABLE>

a word

many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many words

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Fixed width tables with COLS...

...are affected too.

<TABLE BORDER WIDTH=300 COLS=2>
  <TR><TD>a word <TD>many ... many words
</TABLE>

a word

many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many words

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Setting width of the table cell...

...in the first row somewhat fixes the situation:

<TABLE BORDER COLS=2>
  <TR><TD WIDTH=100>a word <TD>many ... many words
</TABLE>

a word

many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many words

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The same, but relative width...

To make resizeable table with cell widths to be of certain proportion, total table width and width of each individual cell should be specified (if COLS parameter present):

<TABLE BORDER WIDTH="100%"COLS=2>
  <TR><TD WIDTH="20%">a word <TD WIDTH="80%"> many ... many words
</TABLE>

a word

many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many words

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