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Subject:Re: Rules in tables From:"Wilcox, John (WWC, Contractor)" <wilcoxj -at- WDNI -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 25 Jul 1997 13:10:00 -0700
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From: Christopher Knight
Recently I got a review back from my boss (who is not a TC professional)
and he asked me to put horizontal & vertical rules in all my tables.
I operate on the "minimum ink" principle (thank you Edward Tufte), and
don't use rules unless the table has so many columns that I have to
scrunch it horizontally, or the cells are irregular (i.e. have indents
or other structure within the cells). The document is a software Users'
Guide for telecom operations center personnel, with a fair amount of
tabular material, but little of it meets my criteria for using rules.
What do you think? Anybody have thoughts on this issue?
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This is really a preference issue, like the serif/sans issue. What
looks or reads the best to the user (or your boss)? I use rules in
tables almost without exception. If the table had only two columns, and
the left column was very short on text compared to the right, I might
leave the rules off. For one thing, they would get in the way if the
row had to span a page break. However, I keep the rules as thin as
possible. When using Ventura, I used .25-point rules. Unfortunately,
Word will not allow for less than .75-point.
Sometimes shading alternating rows *may* be an alternative to rules.
Regards,
John Wilcox, Documentation Specialist
Timberlands Information Services
Weyerhaeuser, WWC 2E2
Tacoma, WA 98477-0001 USA
253-924-7972 wilcoxj -at- wdni -dot- com
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