3 ms·

Why are some developers so enamored with tables and making ever more table-generation libraries. They are one of the worst ways to display information in a read

Why are some developers so enamored with tables and making ever more table-generation libraries. They are one of the worst ways to display information in a readable way. Outside of spreadsheet computing and source data, they have limited use. Tables should almost certainly never make it to an end-user UI.

jrmiii 12y ago
I disagree. Even if you come up with novel ways, or use common visualizations (e.g. charts) to display tabular data - I'd still give the end user a 'table button' that lets them simply view the data in a table. Because of the ubiquity of the spreadsheet, most users simply grok tables and in a pinch, want to see the data that way. If they can't, the first feature request you're going to hear is for an Excel export so they can work around your application - not in it. I'm not saying it's right, I understand you can deliver more information per second in a way that aids cognition - but until users are accustomed to this - we need tables. That being said, if you work in React.js - why not have a nice table library for React.js? edit: grammar
- hawleyal 12y ago
  Most users do not grok tables. Most developers do because they are easy to automatically generate based on lists of things with common attributes. Tabular data is a very exclusive set of information in which columns can be aggregated to sums, counts, et al. Most tables on the web do not contain tabular data.
carterehsmith 12y ago
I guess you never worked on a ‘business’ application (as opposed to ‘social’ app, or a ‘game’)? For example, let’s look at the screenshots below from a typical line-of-business app (AWS console). How do you think the UI should look like, without using tables? http://www.gregarnette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ec2-refresh-aws-console.png http://www.gregarnette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ec2-re...
- hawleyal 12y ago
  I work on many business applications. I find developers make tables as a first recourse because they are easy and don't require thoughtful design of the most usable way to view and interact with data. Edit: Also the example you showed me is definitely not tabular data, as each column cannot be tabulated to a sum or other aggregate. It would most likely be much more semantic to make it a list.

jrmiii 12y ago

I disagree. Even if you come up with novel ways, or use common visualizations (e.g. charts) to display tabular data - I'd still give the end user a 'table button' that lets them simply view the data in a table. Because of the ubiquity of the spreadsheet, most users simply grok tables and in a pinch, want to see the data that way. If they can't, the first feature request you're going to hear is for an Excel export so they can work around your application - not in it. I'm not saying it's right, I understand you can deliver more information per second in a way that aids cognition - but until users are accustomed to this - we need tables. That being said, if you work in React.js - why not have a nice table library for React.js? edit: grammar

hawleyal 12y ago
Most users do not grok tables. Most developers do because they are easy to automatically generate based on lists of things with common attributes. Tabular data is a very exclusive set of information in which columns can be aggregated to sums, counts, et al. Most tables on the web do not contain tabular data.

carterehsmith 12y ago

I guess you never worked on a ‘business’ application (as opposed to ‘social’ app, or a ‘game’)? For example, let’s look at the screenshots below from a typical line-of-business app (AWS console). How do you think the UI should look like, without using tables? http://www.gregarnette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ec2-refresh-aws-console.png http://www.gregarnette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ec2-re...

hawleyal 12y ago
I work on many business applications. I find developers make tables as a first recourse because they are easy and don't require thoughtful design of the most usable way to view and interact with data. Edit: Also the example you showed me is definitely not tabular data, as each column cannot be tabulated to a sum or other aggregate. It would most likely be much more semantic to make it a list.