David,


>There's also issues that some columns never need to grow, an integer column with a header.Caption that already consumes more space than the number of digits needed to display the data.

That is an excellent point. Graphical checkbox controls and dropdowns also come to mind. Then, of course, there are dynamic font properties to take into consideration along with header captions that change (or change font properties) through user interaction.

I think that this is always going to be a situational issue. As Hugo pointed out in his post, you may do a lot of design and end up using it only on rare occasions.

Real estate issues certainly present some interesting challenges. When I worked for a large telcom, I observed some folks from a big six accounting firm rolling out a new version of an accounting package that included some custom reporting. One of the reports was spec'd to include an inordinate number of columns and the big six folks dutifully delivered the report as it was spec'd. They did not, however, include the magnifying glass that was necessary to read the printed copy.


Jim