Let\'s take 4 table columns - ID, Text, Date, Action. In my case table have always constant width - in example 960px.
basically, it's just like this: http://jsfiddle.net/49W5A/ - you have to set the cell-width to something small (like 1px) to make them stay as small as possible.
but as you'll see, theres one problem with the date-fields doing a line-wrap. to prevent this, just add white-space: nowrap; for your text-field: http://jsfiddle.net/ZXu7U/
working example:
1
Some Text...
May 2011
Edit
2
Another Text...
April 2011
Edit