diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3266438..ed8ad55 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,3 +12,6 @@ documentation = "https://docs.rs/ascii_table"
 readme = "readme.md"
 categories = ["command-line-interface"]
 keywords = ["ascii", "table"]
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+colorful = "0.2"
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 6944338..1e10fc2 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -225,13 +225,17 @@ impl AsciiTable {
         let result: Vec<_> = (0..num_cols).map(|a| {
             let default_conf = &DEFAULT_COLUMN;
             let conf = self.columns.get(&a).unwrap_or(default_conf);
-            let column_width = data.iter().map(|row| row[a].chars().count()).max().unwrap();
+            let column_width = data.iter().map(|row| Self::count_characters(&row[a])).max().unwrap();
             let header_width = conf.header.chars().count();
             column_width.max(header_width).min(conf.max_width)
         }).collect();
         self.truncate_widths(result)
     }
 
+    fn count_characters(cell: &str) -> usize {
+        cell.chars().count()
+    }
+
     fn truncate_widths(&self, mut widths: Vec<usize>) -> Vec<usize> {
         let max_width = self.max_width;
         let table_padding = Self::smallest_width(widths.len());
diff --git a/src/test.rs b/src/test.rs
index 7f86836..449b2a2 100644
--- a/src/test.rs
+++ b/src/test.rs
@@ -15,9 +15,13 @@
 // You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 // along with ascii-table.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+use colorful::Color;
+use colorful::Colorful;
+
 use crate::{AsciiTable, Column};
 use crate::Align::*;
 
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use std::fmt::Display;
 
 fn cube_config() -> AsciiTable {
@@ -28,6 +32,19 @@ fn cube_config() -> AsciiTable {
     result
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn backwards_compatible() {
+    AsciiTable {
+        max_width: 0,
+        columns: BTreeMap::new()
+    };
+    Column {
+        header: String::new(),
+        align: Left,
+        max_width: 0
+    };
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn empty_rows() {
     let config = AsciiTable::default();
@@ -504,3 +521,15 @@ fn mixed_types() {
 
     assert_eq!(expected, config.format(input));
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn color_codes() {
+    let config = AsciiTable::default();
+    let text = "Hello".color(Color::Blue).bg_color(Color::Yellow).bold();
+    let input = vec![vec![text]];
+    let expected = "┌───────┐\n\
+                    │ \u{1b}[38;5;4m\u{1b}[48;5;3;1mHello\u{1b}[0m │\n\
+                    └───────┘\n";
+
+    assert_eq!(expected, config.format(input));
+}