InDesign Type: Professional Typography with Adobe® InDesign®, Second Edition

Chapter 10. Tabs, Tables, and Lists

TABLES ARE EVERYWHERE: train and bus schedules, product comparisons, stock charts, sports league tables, and TV and radio listings to name but a few. Unlike narrative text, tables need to be read in two directions simultaneously, so it’s important to keep the design simple. When creating tables, start out with a design that is homogenous, bland even, introducing rules, tints, and changes in emphasis only as necessary—and only if you can articulate why they are necessary. Lists are also ubiquitous: the top ten this, the 100 greatest that, 12-step programs, 50 ways to leave your lover, and so on. In this chapter I’ll look at InDesign’s robust and versatile table formatting features, then move on to the options ...