5 Tips for Better Tables

Use these 5 quick tips to improve the appearance and usability of your InDesign tables.

Nigel French Nigel French

Use these 5 quick tips to improve the appearance and usability of your InDesign tables.

1. Break out of Data Prison

Use the proxy preview to determine which strokes are being affected. Right-click the preview proxy.

2. Emphasize the Reading Direction

3. Keep it Simple

• Abbreviate details where possible.

• Use a condensed font to keep the data compact and easy to scan.

• Turn off hyphenation.

• Select Ignore Optical Margin Alignment

4. Use Tabular Lining Numbers

To ensure that figures align within cells, if you’re using a typeface with different numbering styles, be sure to use Tabular numbers. Also, consider using a Figure Space to fine-tune alignment.

5. Be Flexible About Alignment

More Resources To Master Type and Typography

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This article was last modified on June 29, 2021

This article was first published on May 21, 2019

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