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"If you must show a table, do it properly." Then shows a table of numbers that are not aligned to the right with the same number of digits. 25.5 19 78.
by kyberias 9y ago
"If you must show a table, do it properly."
Then shows a table of numbers that are not aligned to the right with the same number of digits.
25.5
19
78.2
Yeah, that's not how to "do it properly". I wonder if any of the advice are proper.
- Techonomicon 9y agoWell, first I think you missed the point. Second, I think it looks much more pleasurable to read in this format with the columns centered vs being left / right aligned. Column alignment is pretty subjective (and again, I think the chosen one looks more pleasant than what you're proposing), what the writer was getting at was making sure that the point you'd like to get across is being highlighted in someway, hence the red column amongst the black.
- y4mi 9y ago19.0 wouldve looked better and centering were still possible.
- kyberias 9y ago> "it looks much more pleasurable to read" > Column alignment is pretty subjective No, there's absolutely nothing subjective about this topic. It's objectively easier to compare numbers and see differences when they all have the same number of digits AND are aligned to the right. 9 90 8,0 2 89 9 90 8 2 89
- hammock 9y agoThe numbers absolutely have to be aligned along the decimal point. You can still "center" them in the column by indenting it
- dahart 9y agoI'd agree it's better to right-align, and keep the same precision, for a column of numbers. That's a bit more subtle than the point that was being made about whitespace, but still a great point IMO. Better still to avoid tables, and use charts instead, which the author mentions a couple different ways. But there's lots of good advice here, it's not really fair to question the validity of the entire article just because it left out one minor thing that you care about.