Thread:Support/Small column widths on column headers

Messages which are used as column headers sometimes have to be very short, for example. The maximum length of this message is 5% of the table width, which on some screens and with some browsers I imagine is very short, maybe 6 or 7 letters? Because of this restriction, there are going to be some messages which cannot be translated into some languages, no matter how clever the translator is.

Would it be possible to change Mediawiki so that each column header has two messages attached? The second message would be optional, only used when there is a problem with the translated column header not fitting the available space. Then the message in the column header would be a reference letter or number and the second message would appear just above or just below the table, and start with the reference letter or number and give the title of the column, like other keys or legends.

I know that this is not the wiki where this change can be made, but before pursuing this idea, I want to ask the opinion of my colleagues here, since this would be a change specifically designed to assist localisation.