What is the maximum page width a table can be made to display?

[Phillip Dudley]

I am attempting to take a CSV file with 50-60 columns and create a Page using the atlassian-python-api Python package. I am able to create a Page with the content turned into an HTML table made by Pandas, then applied as the Page Body.

The problem is that the table columns are squished together and scrolling to the right/left is very slow. Then when I expand each column to be readable, I eventually hit a point where Confluence "freaks out" (best I can describe it) and adjusts the columns back, and the last one I modified shows the full if not longer column width.

Experimenting with this, I think there is a maximum page width that is beyond using the buttons to transform the viewable content to be as wide as the page is. I have to scroll left/right. Is there a maximum page width/size? If not page, a table?

I did experiment using the Database feature, which is not available via the atlassian-python-api library, by uploading the CSV to the Database page. This became slightly better and was more readable, but Chrome users and sometimes Firefox users seemed to lose sight of the data in the table and when scrolling back would need to wait for it to reload. It seems this is a PWA and is having issues.

[Kristian Klima]

Hi @Phillip Dudley 

The page has a maximum width and it determins the physical display of a table - but you can have a table that's wider than the actual physical page width.

It would require vertical scrolling. At 60 columns, it would be a massive incovenience and it can impact performance of how the page is displayed to the users. Not to mention the need to scroll more than is reasonable.

I suggest embedding a table (spreadsheet) using the iframe macro.

[Phillip Dudley]

The iFrame is promising, however, this data is not hosted on an external URL, nor do I know any of the CSS Classes present in our Space, I don't have access to view them.

Are you referring to uploading the CSV file as a Database page type, then link that Database page to this iFrame in a different Page?

[Kristian Klima]

What I'd do is to put the CSV into a Google sheet, then use either the 'share' link or the 'published' link (the latter removes the G-docs UI menu furniture) in the iframe macro.

We do that a lot, relying on the fact that our Atlassian and Google environments share the same SSO scheme, so if you can access the Confluence page, you can access the sheet.

Great thing with publishing in Google is that you can publish a document within your org, effectively controlling the access to your internal users.

The point is that Confluence (and Databases) were not made to handle and/or display tables of that size, so the main theme of my solutions is to 

• let users access the data via Confluence - it would display the preview, scrollable, etc. 
• let users VIEW the data in a tool that's designed to handle such load (visually and functionally)

Yes, it involves an in-between tool but it might a better solution than forcing a wide table on a limited-width Confluence page.

[Phillip Dudley]

Unfortunately, this data cannot live in my Google Drive, nor would I want any work stuff in my personal Google Drive stuff.

We'll see if we can figure out a different method of displaying this data. Maybe not in a table this large.

[Kristian Klima]

I used Google sheets as an example, there could be other services that can integrate in a similar manner. But an in-between might not be an ideal solution no matter the platform.

If you can live with longer database refreshes then this could be the way to go.

But still, displaying default-sized 60 columns in one window is a 5120x1440 screen job.

[Phillip Dudley]

I guess that's what I'm wondering is how many pixels are available to the right when I have a table that big? If there's a hard pixel limit, or something, that explains why the tables are super wonky when there are a lot of columns.