Question

Is there any way to specify table column width “as is”. In other words, I want a column to have exact width its content takes to display.

Answer 1

That should be the default case.

<!-- "table-layout" is "auto" by default as well, just to force it -->
<table border="1" style="table-layout:auto;">
    <tr>
        <td>Column 1</td>
        <td>Column 2</td>
    </tr>
</table>

This is how it looks like