Six guidelines for creating better tables
Data visualization expert and chart enthusiast Albert Rapp provides these six platform-agnostic guidelines for making tables more readable and aesthetically pleasant.
- Avoid vertical lines. Removing vertical lines from your table will reduce clutter and make the table flow more horizontally.
- Use better column names. The variable name you used while collecting the data may not be the best. Choose a descriptive but concise title for the column.
- Align columns: It’s a good default to align numbers to the right and texts to the left. Most western people read from left to right, but right-aligned numbers make it easy to see how many digits a number has compared to other numbers.
- Use groups instead of repetitive columns: If one column only has a few values that repeat over and over, it may be better to remove that column and use those values in rows to group areas of the table.
- Remove missing numbers: Replacing zeros with something like "-" will make it easier for the eye to skim past missing values.
- Add summaries: Summaries add information at the cost of only an extra row or two. A summary could be as simple as a total or maximum over all years.
This basic table has many heavy lines, zeros, and repeated values, making it tiring to read and difficult to understand.
The table below has been editing using these six guidelines to make it easier to read and to better communicate the data.
Images from Rapp, A. (n.d.). 3MW (Guidelines for better tables). 3 Minutes Wednesdays. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://alberts-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/3mw-table-guidelines
