Re: Table layout - Which way is best?

[Margaret Cekis <margaret -dot- cekis -at- comcast -dot- net>]

William Sherman asked for links or references for laying out tables.
______________________
William:
Have you checked the Microsoft Manual of Style? I think there are defaults in Excel that follow MMOS's table recommendations of Down, Across, then down again.

I agree with Peter that how the table will be viewed is important. Will it be only online on a wide-screen window, or will it be printed (or PDFd) in a Portrait format? 

And how related is the information to each category? Will all the same specifications or data items (besides physical dimensions) be listed for each main heading, or not? (I can't think of many that would apply to all your sample categories.) 

If you have the same items in the left column for all categories, it doesn't matter (except for scrolling and font size) how many columns you list together. If each heading requires different data categories, then I'd give each heading its own specifications table, with separate headings, which makes for easier user reference later. JMHO
Margaret Cekis, Johns Creek GA
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Adobe TCS 5: Get the Best of both worlds: modern publishing and best in class XML \ DITA authoring | http://adobe.ly/scpwfT

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications?  Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions?  Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives