Add dots to alternating tabular lines #37
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Tables with keys of varying lengths are hard to read, since some of the key names end up far from their values. This change adds a sequence of dots on all odd lines, so that lines are easier to match up with their keys.
Codecov Report
@@ Coverage Diff @@
## master #37 +/- ##
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+ Coverage 94.2% 94.47% +0.26%
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Files 7 7
Lines 328 344 +16
Branches 48 53 +5
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+ Hits 309 325 +16
Misses 12 12
Partials 7 7
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Can this be made denser in either the horizontal or vertical directions? The convention in typesetting is dots on every line. I understand that might be too dense in the vertical dimension, but I worry that also alternating in the horizontal dimension could look too sparse.
Perhaps you can reply with some sample outputs?
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I definitely think that alternating lines is easier to scan than adding dots on every line, especially when text is scrolling quickly. I don't have a very strong opinion on sparse-dots vs dense dots, but sparse dots looks a little less distracting to me. With denser dots, it looks like this: With even denser dots, it looks like this (which I think isn't really easier to read than no dots): |
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full density half vertical half horizontal half both For my eyes, full-density and half-horizontal are much more readable than the vertical-skipping options. I think keys with wildly-varying lengths make the horizontal-skipping options hard to read if you get unlucky with where you are skipping lines (i.e. if you end up skipping dots on a bunch of short lines but keeping them on longer lines) |
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I don't want to flame -- how about we put this to a poll on the RESL slack channel? I generated some GIFs. |
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Poll results from RESL (n=12): I realized I should have done a ranking poll instead...
Here's how how Louise ranked them (best-to-worst): People seem to overwhelmingly prefer dense dots (88%). They are more split on vertical density (67%). You've spent the most time staring at this so I'll let you pick what to do and won't comment any more. I hope the surveys were helpful. |
Tables with keys of varying lengths are hard to read, since some of the
key names end up far from their values. This change adds a sequence of
dots on all odd lines, so that lines are easier to match up with their
keys.