I'm not sure that abandon is an accurate characerization. All formatting decisions are based on what the text looks like and how it meant to be read. It is impossible to give more than a hypothetical suggestion for a hypothetical situation. Obviously there are no hard-and-fast rules, especially in the matter of wide tables, because these vary so much in print. That's why these are called guidelines. Options are given for wide tables and formatting decisions are made according to a particular situation. Abundant examples are also given in Formats to assist in that process. We're happy to help suggest solutions to any formatting situation you cate to ask about, but beyond the hypothetical, we need to see what it looks like.
--Joanna