In this case, in the number column, the first digit in row 1 represents 500, the first digit in item2 represents 10 and the first digit in row 3 represents 4000. If you don't do that, you end up with this sort of problem: Dimension number cost Metrics should be right aligned, because that aids comparison.

Here's a table with the metrics highlighted: Dimension number cost These are on the right hand side of the table, and their major use case is that the user is trying to compare them against the same metric in other rows. These are the figures or categories that belong to each row. Here's a table with the dimensions highlighted Dimension number cost These are your dimensions, the user is usually scanning down them to find specific rows.īecause their primary use case is scanning to find a single item they should be left aligned and ideally sorted into a sensible order. In a normal table, you have one to two columns on the left hand side of your table that are categorising the data into rows. This is an important distinction in design of useable tables, so it's worth digging into it a little. Columns should be aligned according to role, not typeĬolumns can either be a dimension something you look up against, or metrics something you're looking up If you use different alignments for different labels you risk making it hard to identify which data the label is supposed to be aligned with. Labels should be aligned exactly the same as the column below them.

Right justify text excel