Sharepoint 2013 changing the width of columns in a list

Question

Hi, 
I would like to know if it is possible to change the width of columns in a custom list in sharepoint 2013. I have tried to load it in Sharepoint Designer 2010, but it will not allow me. Therefore, I can only use SPD 2013.
Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Jemelia,
According to your description, my understanding is that you want to change the width of a column in a custom list in SharePoint 2013.
Per my test, if we edit the AllItem view of the list in SharePoint Designer 2013, we cannot get the design tab to customize the XSLT of the list and change the width of the column.
I recommend to create a new page, and then add a data view web part of the corresponding list to the page. After that, we can get the design tab to customize the XSLT of the list.
Here are the detailed steps:
In the newly created page with the added data view web part of the list, select the data view web part  and then click on “Customize XSLT” > “Customize Entire View” on design tab in the menu.
Search for the fieldname for example in my case “Column” then you will get template like “dvt_headerfield. Column”. In this template there is a attribute name like <xsl:attribute name="style">
in this just add the width size like following.
<xsl:attribute name="style">padding:0 !important;border:0 !important; width: 600px</xsl:attribute>
  3. Search for the template  “FieldRef_printTableCell_EcbAllowed.Column”. In this template you will see “<td>” and you can add style to change its width like following.
<td style=" width:300px">
We can also use jquery to change the width of the column in SharePoint 2013:
      1. Create a txt file containing the code below:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.2.6/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
$("TH.ms-vh2:contains('Title')").css("width", "300px"); //You can change the column to be the column you want to change the width, Title in the code for example.
</script>
       2. Upload the txt file to a library in SharePoint.
       3. Add a Content Editor in the page where the list exists, and then edit the web part.
       4. In Content Link, type in the URL of the txt file in SharePoint, like
http://server/site/library/file.txt.
Best regards.
Thanks
Victoria Xia
TechNet Community Support