Recommended table designs

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The purpose of tables can be:

to structure information

to arrange information

to visualize relationships

Avoid anything that doesn’t help achieve these purposes. In particular, use as few lines as possible to avoid unnecessary clutter (see also Use clear and simple design).

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Types of tables

In a printed document, all tables are static.
See Static tables design.

In online help, you can have static tables as well, but some authoring tools and JavaScript libraries also enable you to create dynamic tables.
See Dynamic tables design.).

Dynamic tables can:

be sortable

expand to show additional information

highlight particular information when readers hold the mouse pointer over a table cell


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