Make a table in ebook file

Question

I wanna make a book with parallel translation. It supposed to have table with to columns - one have text on source language, the other on target language. I found, that I can do it easy with fb2, just write a xml code by python script. But my ebook read it ugly - the first column much wider than the second. (see picture)

Code example:

<section><table>
    <tr>
        <td> Lang1 </td>
        <td> Lang2 </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
       ... the same ...
    </tr>
</table></section>

I don't work with web design, and maybe dont understand some simple thing. How can I set size of columns? Or maybe I should use some other format (epub) It essential, that I need format, which I can read on ebook comfortable. Books in PDF format are bad for this, cause I can't change font and don't want zoom.

Thanks for you answers!

Answer 1

FB2 Supports reflow by design which is the reason for poor table support in many ebook readers as two column is contra the basic reflow principle.

Thus HTML can support tables but are not always "expected" nor supported well in many ebook readers.

Daisy epubtest "basic" did not include tables ! But they are tested in Accessibility: Non-visual Reading. Adobe fails the visual display by not adjusting the 4 cell contents to fit device, and fails on navigation.

MuPDF show the table as one column with cells reflowing to fit the page width, Calibre uses varying width columns but can also have issues.

If you need a fixed layout, then PDF was designed to maintain page layout, Thus the answer is probably use PDF with a page column and font size targeted to suit a pocket book such as A6, two column, no margins, 6pt.

If it is for your own use only, then ebook format targeted for your device, may well work if the columns are fixed to half screen width.