diff --git a/frontend/index.html b/frontend/index.html
index b5c2010..9a855de 100644
--- a/frontend/index.html
+++ b/frontend/index.html
@@ -1659,19 +1659,19 @@
 				</div>
 				<div class="flex items-center gap-2">
 					<label for="cards-adm" class="w-10 shrink-0 text-xs text-gray-600 dark:text-slate-400">ADM</label>
-					<input id="cards-adm" class="flex-1 min-w-0 border border-gray-300 dark:border-slate-600 text-sm rounded px-2 py-1.5 dark:bg-slate-800 font-mono text-center" maxlength="16" placeholder="ADM (optional)">
+					<input id="cards-adm" class="flex-1 min-w-0 border border-gray-300 dark:border-slate-600 text-sm rounded px-2 py-1.5 dark:bg-slate-800 font-mono text-center" maxlength="16" placeholder="ADM">
 				</div>
 			</div>
 			<p class="text-xs text-gray-500 dark:text-slate-400 mt-2" data-l10n="All codes are optional">All codes are optional</p>
 		</fieldset>
 		<fieldset class="border border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700 rounded p-3 flex-1 min-w-0">
 			<legend class="px-1 text-xs font-medium text-gray-500 dark:text-slate-400" data-l10n="TAR">TAR</legend>
-			<table class="w-full text-sm mb-2">
+			<table class="w-full table-fixed text-sm mb-2">
 				<thead><tr>
-					<th class="text-left py-1 px-2 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700" data-l10n="TAR">TAR</th>
-					<th class="text-left py-1 px-2 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700" data-l10n="MSL">MSL</th>
+					<th class="w-28 text-left py-1 px-2 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700" data-l10n="TAR">TAR</th>
+					<th class="w-20 text-left py-1 px-2 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700" data-l10n="MSL">MSL</th>
 					<th class="text-left py-1 px-2 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700" data-l10n="Description">Description</th>
-					<th class="w-8 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700"></th>
+					<th class="w-12 border-b border-gray-200 dark:border-slate-700"></th>
 				</tr></thead>
 				<tbody id="cards-tars"></tbody>
 			</table>
@@ -11897,8 +11897,8 @@ const CARDS_TAR_ROLE_DESC = {
 function cardsTarRowHtml(e, i) {
 	const cls = 'border border-gray-300 dark:border-slate-600 text-sm rounded px-2 py-1.5 dark:bg-slate-800 font-mono';
 	const role = CARDS_TAR_ROLES[i] || '';
-	let cells = '<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-' + i + '-tar" class="w-24 ' + cls + '" maxlength="6" placeholder="TAR" value="' + esc(e.tar || '') + '"></td>' +
-		'<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-' + i + '-msl" class="w-14 ' + cls + '" maxlength="2" placeholder="MSL" value="' + esc(e.msl || '') + '" title="' + esc(t('MSL (Minimum SPI1, one hex byte)')) + '"></td>';
+	let cells = '<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-' + i + '-tar" class="w-full ' + cls + '" maxlength="6" placeholder="TAR" value="' + esc(e.tar || '') + '"></td>' +
+		'<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-' + i + '-msl" class="w-full ' + cls + '" maxlength="2" placeholder="MSL" value="' + esc(e.msl || '') + '" title="' + esc(t('MSL (Minimum SPI1, one hex byte)')) + '"></td>';
 	if (role) {
 		cells += '<td class="py-1 px-2 text-xs text-gray-600 dark:text-slate-400">' + esc(CARDS_TAR_ROLE_DESC[role] || '') + '</td>' +
 			'<td class="py-1 px-2"></td>';
diff --git a/frontend/style.css b/frontend/style.css
index f2fce41..4198c55 100644
--- a/frontend/style.css
+++ b/frontend/style.css
@@ -1024,6 +1024,10 @@ video {
   flex-shrink: 0;
 }
 
+.table-fixed {
+  table-layout: fixed;
+}
+
 .border-collapse {
   border-collapse: collapse;
 }
diff --git a/frontend/sw.js b/frontend/sw.js
index 71b8107..2e0a30f 100644
--- a/frontend/sw.js
+++ b/frontend/sw.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const CACHE = 'simple-v364';
+const CACHE = 'simple-v365';
 const URLS = [
   'index.html',
   'help.html',
diff --git a/frontend/tests/cards_form.test.js b/frontend/tests/cards_form.test.js
index 3199906..dd3777c 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/cards_form.test.js
+++ b/frontend/tests/cards_form.test.js
@@ -535,8 +535,8 @@ test('packing without a selected preset uses the spec default TAR', () => {
 test('the TAR row values are left-aligned like the headers', () => {
 	const out = cardsTarRowHtml({ tar: 'AF4D01', msl: '0A', desc: 'x' }, 3);
 	assert.doesNotMatch(out, /text-center/);
-	assert.match(out, /<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-3-tar"/);
-	assert.match(out, /<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-3-msl"/);
+	assert.match(out, /<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-3-tar" class="w-full/);
+	assert.match(out, /<td class="py-1 px-2"><input id="cards-tr-3-msl" class="w-full/);
 });
 
 test('the TAR table renders the role rows and adds/removes free rows', () => {
diff --git a/frontend/tests/html.test.js b/frontend/tests/html.test.js
index 65197d9..ad56ea5 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/html.test.js
+++ b/frontend/tests/html.test.js
@@ -186,6 +186,12 @@ test('the PIN/ADM and TAR fieldsets share one responsive row', () => {
     // the codes are one-line rows: label left, input right
     assert.match(row, /class="flex items-center gap-2"[\s\S]*?for="cards-pin1"[\s\S]*?id="cards-pin1"/);
     assert.match(row, /for="cards-pin1"[^>]*class="w-10 shrink-0/);
+    // the TAR table is fixed-layout so the columns hug their content and the
+    // description absorbs the rest (no even spreading)
+    assert.match(row, /<table class="w-full table-fixed text-sm mb-2">/);
+    assert.match(row, /<th class="w-28 text-left[^"]*" data-l10n="TAR"/);
+    assert.match(row, /<th class="w-20 text-left[^"]*" data-l10n="MSL"/);
+    assert.match(row, /<th class="w-12[^"]*"><\/th>/);
     // the hint is the short form
     assert.match(row, /data-l10n="All codes are optional"/);
     assert.ok(!row.includes('not consumed yet'), 'the long codes hint is gone');
@@ -230,7 +236,7 @@ test('the ADM field sits in the PIN/ADM fieldset of the editor', () => {
     const fieldsets = [...html.matchAll(/<fieldset[\s\S]*?<\/fieldset>/g)].map(m => m[0]);
     const pinAdm = fieldsets.find(f => /data-l10n="PIN\/ADM"/.test(f));
     assert.ok(pinAdm, 'PIN/ADM fieldset not found');
-    assert.match(pinAdm, /id="cards-adm"[^>]*placeholder="ADM \(optional\)"/);
+    assert.match(pinAdm, /id="cards-adm"[^>]*placeholder="ADM"/);
     // the From card button sits in the editor header, above the code fields
     assert.ok(html.indexOf('id="cards-iccid-from-card"') < html.indexOf('id="cards-pin1"'),
         'the From card button must precede the code fields');