[html] Force table column widths to always be fixed regardless of contents

You can also use percentages, and/or specify in the column headers:

<table width="300">  
  <tr>
    <th width="20%">Column 1</th>
    <th width="20%">Column 2</th>
    <th width="20%">Column 3</th>
    <th width="20%">Column 4</th>
    <th width="20%">Column 5</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <!--- row data -->
  </tr>
</table>

The bonus with percentages is lower code maintenance: you can change your table width without having to re-specify the column widths.

Caveat: It is my understanding that table width specified in pixels isn't supported in HTML 5; you need to use CSS instead.