Tables should be standalone – that is, they should be able to be read and understood without having to read the surrounding text. For this reason, all abbreviations should be either written out in full in the table or defined in a table note below the table, even if they have already been defined in the text.
Avoid clutter by rounding numbers, where possible (2 or 3 significant figures are usually enough), but make sure this retains the important elements of the numbers. State units in the column headings rather than the data cells.
Table titles are placed above the table and should describe the content of the table (see Table name or title).
Definitions of units, abbreviations and symbols that are used in the table are placed below the table (see Definitions, notes and sources).
The source of the information in the table is placed below the table after the definitions and notes (see Definitions, notes and sources)
Link to text
All tables should be referred to in the text, and the table should be placed as early as possible after its in-text mention.
It is good practice to use the text to highlight key messages from the table and then point to it with an in-text reference, rather than just announcing the table (see Use the text to point to the key messages).
Presentation
Tables should be as simple as possible and fit comfortably on a page (see Functional design for tables). Tables with a narrow amount of content should not be unduly stretched to fill the page width because the resulting excessive space between columns can make it difficult to read across a row. Rather, the width of the columns should comfortably fit the content.
If the table extends over more than 1 page, the column headers and current row headers should be repeated at the top of the new page. The part of the table title that provides the number of the table should also be repeated; the descriptive part of the title can be either repeated or replaced with continued (eg Table 2.1 Livestock numbers in Australia, 2015 or Table 2.1 continued). Indicate at the bottom of each page of the table (except for the last one) that it continues beyond the current page.
Fonts should be as legible as possible, and the same font should be used throughout. Text must be large enough and spaced widely enough (not too small or condensed) to be comfortable to read. All text should be horizontal, where possible.
Common elements (eg typography, borders, colours, line styles, spacing) should be standardised across similar tables in a document, to make the document more consistent and cohesive.
