Small Guide To Making Nice Tables

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Small Guide to Making Nice Tables
Markus Püschel
Carnegie Mellon University
www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel

Which One Looks Better?

Easy decision, isn’t it?

Another One

If your tables tend to look like the above
you may find this guide helpful

Background


Up to 2005, I had been writing technical publications for 8
years, creating roughly 35 fully reviewed papers, 2 theses,
20 proposals, and many other pages of technical writing



In each case I spent a lot of effort on content and visual
presentation; I am really picky



In 2005 I learned (from Goran Frehse, thank you!) that I
had had no clue how to make tables



I summarize what I have learned in this short guide

Resources


“Chicago Manual of Style,” The University of Chicago
Press



Latex users: Use booktabs.sty and its documentation
http://texcatalogue.sarovar.org/entries/booktabs.html

Most Important Guidelines for Making Tables


Avoid vertical lines



Avoid “boxing up” cells, usually 3 horizontal lines are
enough: above, below, and after heading (see examples in
this guide)



Avoid double horizontal lines



Enough space between rows



If in doubt, align left

Example: Before and After
Before:

also the first column
gets a header

everything left aligned

three horizontal lines only,
I like the top and bottom ones bolder

After:
more space between rows

space to the left edge removed

space to the right edge removed

In Latex


Style: \usepackage{booktabs}



Horizontal lines: read documentation of booktabs
http://texcatalogue.sarovar.org/entries/booktabs.html



More space between rows:
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.2} (or 1.3)



Remove space to the vertical edges:
\begin{tabular}{@{}lll@{}} …

Hierarchical Tables: Examples
One level of hierarchy:
x-axis only

One level of hierarchy:
x-axis and y-axis

Latex Example
Table from the bottom of the previous slide:
\usepackage{booktabs}
\newcommand{\ra}[1]{\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{#1}}
\begin{table*}\centering
\ra{1.3}
\begin{tabular}{@{}rrrrcrrrcrrr@{}}\toprule
& \multicolumn{3}{c}{$w = 8$} & \phantom{abc}& \multicolumn{3}{c}{$w = 16$} &
\phantom{abc} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{$w = 32$}\\
\cmidrule{2-4} \cmidrule{6-8} \cmidrule{10-12}
& $t=0$ & $t=1$ & $t=2$ && $t=0$ & $t=1$ & $t=2$ && $t=0$ & $t=1$ & $t=2$\\ \midrule
$dir=1$\\
$c$ & 0.0790 & 0.1692 & 0.2945 && 0.3670 & 0.7187 & 3.1815 && -1.0032 & -1.7104 & -21.7969\\
$c$ & -0.8651& 50.0476& 5.9384&& -9.0714& 297.0923& 46.2143&& 4.3590& 34.5809& 76.9167\\
$c$ & 124.2756& -50.9612& -14.2721&& 128.2265& -630.5455& -381.0930&& -121.0518& -137.1210& -220.2500\\
$dir=0$\\
$c$ & 0.0357& 1.2473& 0.2119&& 0.3593& -0.2755& 2.1764&& -1.2998& -3.8202& -1.2784\\
$c$ & -17.9048& -37.1111& 8.8591&& -30.7381& -9.5952& -3.0000&& -11.1631& -5.7108& -15.6728\\
$c$ & 105.5518& 232.1160& -94.7351&& 100.2497& 141.2778& -259.7326&& 52.5745& 10.1098& -140.2130\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{Caption}
\end{table*}

Further Examples




The following tables are taken from the magazine
Economist
They demonstrate









How to handle multiple levels of hierarchy
Alignment, handling of long headers
The use of light gray to further divide the tables
Horizontal lines provide readability under denser packing and
when lots of numbers are organized
Sans serif fonts are preferrable for readability;
of course, if you need math symbols and use latex, then stick with
roman
Title above table, sometimes with unit of measure
The use of footnotes
Different types of horizontal lines
(I personally don’t like the use of more than two)

Example Tables I

Example Tables II

Example Tables III

Example Tables IV

Example Tables V
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Create Date                     : 2008:06:28 14:15:41Z
Creator Tool                    : Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007
Modify Date                     : 2008:06:28 14:15:41Z
Format                          : application/pdf
Creator                         : Markus Pueschel
Title                           : Small Guide to Making Nice Tables
Producer                        : Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007
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Page Count                      : 16
Language                        : en-US
Author                          : Markus Pueschel
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