Comments on: Floating Headers for Tabular Data http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/ UIE\'s latest insights on the world of design Sun, 19 May 2013 02:00:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Kendall http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-84652 Kendall Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:11:23 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-84652 I'd take a different perspective to the situation. If you're dealing with so many rules it is very likely that the user does not wish to read all records (rows). So don't show everything, only show what the user wants. Provide search or filter type options, maybe have the user pick a category that limits the resulting amount of data to show to the user. Specific solution would vary considerably depending on the situation. This may not always be a possibility, but it is more often than not if the right people involved in the design. The floating header is nice, but needs work as implemented here, for reasons others have already elaborated on. I’d take a different perspective to the situation. If you’re dealing with so many rules it is very likely that the user does not wish to read all records (rows). So don’t show everything, only show what the user wants. Provide search or filter type options, maybe have the user pick a category that limits the resulting amount of data to show to the user. Specific solution would vary considerably depending on the situation. This may not always be a possibility, but it is more often than not if the right people involved in the design.

The floating header is nice, but needs work as implemented here, for reasons others have already elaborated on.

]]> By: scupp http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-84249 scupp Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:58:22 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-84249 Just wondering about any user validation anyone has performed on these scrollable divs for long tables? What level of efficacy does the user generally need to have in order to assume they notice the scrollbar and understand that there is more data below the view visible? While I think all web users are familiar with the individual component of a scrollbar, do they translate that knowledge to internal page components cleanly? Just wondering about any user validation anyone has performed on these scrollable divs for long tables? What level of efficacy does the user generally need to have in order to assume they notice the scrollbar and understand that there is more data below the view visible? While I think all web users are familiar with the individual component of a scrollbar, do they translate that knowledge to internal page components cleanly?

]]> By: blog.dsetia.com» Blog Archive » Floating Headers for Tabular Data http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-84087 blog.dsetia.com» Blog Archive » Floating Headers for Tabular Data Sun, 05 Aug 2007 02:21:36 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-84087 [...] Handling and presenting large amounts of data is often a challenge many organizations are faced with. There are issues such as the number of fields that must be shown, the height and width of the cells the data must fit in, visual noise and redundant content, filtering and sorting mechanisms, vertical and horizontal labeling, and, […] Source: [Link] [...] [...] Handling and presenting large amounts of data is often a challenge many organizations are faced with. There are issues such as the number of fields that must be shown, the height and width of the cells the data must fit in, visual noise and redundant content, filtering and sorting mechanisms, vertical and horizontal labeling, and, […] Source: [Link] [...]

]]> By: Iacovos Constantinou http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-83960 Iacovos Constantinou Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:36:23 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-83960 I could not agree more with you Claude. In my opinion, this is a bad example of presenting tabular data. As someone can see, the table contains numerous subheaders and subsections like "Sex and Age", "Race" etc; each section could be presented as a single table that contains info regarding a single category. Anyway, as Clause suggests pagination appears to be the best solution but if for some reason you want desperately to display all rows in one page <a href="http://www.imaputz.com/cssStuff/bigFourVersion.html" rel="nofollow">Pure CSS Scrollable Table with Fixed Header</a> is probably what are you looking for. I could not agree more with you Claude. In my opinion, this is a bad example of presenting tabular data. As someone can see, the table contains numerous subheaders and subsections like “Sex and Age”, “Race” etc; each section could be presented as a single table that contains info regarding a single category.

Anyway, as Clause suggests pagination appears to be the best solution but if for some reason you want desperately to display all rows in one page Pure CSS Scrollable Table with Fixed Header is probably what are you looking for.

]]> By: Claude http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-83954 Claude Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:28:29 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-83954 They could have accomplished the same thing by splitting the data into multiple tables for the different categories, simple and easy for the screen user while remaining accessible. It would a different story if they had to display thousands of records, such as daily closing values for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since its inception in May of 1896. That dataset has just under 28,000 rows of data, so the only usable solution is to paginate (1,397 pages of 20 rows each) and enhance the experience with Ajax for those browsers that can handle it. They could have accomplished the same thing by splitting the data into multiple tables for the different categories, simple and easy for the screen user while remaining accessible.

It would a different story if they had to display thousands of records, such as daily closing values for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since its inception in May of 1896. That dataset has just under 28,000 rows of data, so the only usable solution is to paginate (1,397 pages of 20 rows each) and enhance the experience with Ajax for those browsers that can handle it.

]]> By: Joseph Selbie http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-83917 Joseph Selbie Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:58:59 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-83917 Ashley, You can accomplish this same thing by putting the table in an i-frame and having the module that contains the table spawn it's own scroller below the header. (This actually requires an i-frame within an i-frame -- and in some case i-frame within i-frame, within i-frame...but you get the idea.) We've used this quite a lot. It would think it would feel a bit more "stable" for a user than the "floating" header. Joseph Selbie CEO, Founder Tristream http://www.tristream.com Ashley,

You can accomplish this same thing by putting the table in an i-frame and having the module that contains the table spawn it’s own scroller below the header. (This actually requires an i-frame within an i-frame — and in some case i-frame within i-frame, within i-frame…but you get the idea.) We’ve used this quite a lot. It would think it would feel a bit more “stable” for a user than the “floating” header.

Joseph Selbie
CEO, Founder Tristream
http://www.tristream.com

]]> By: Jeff L http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-83903 Jeff L Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:11:17 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-83903 Very interesting - but only from a screen users perspective. What they have done is actually duplicate the header in the source, so it's on the page twice. Would be fairly confusing for someone using a screenreader. Also, they duplicated the code exactly, so the id's of the table cells are the same (nevermind that it should be table headers, not table cells). I'd love to see something like this implemented with a little more thought for the accessibility side of things as well. Very interesting – but only from a screen users perspective. What they have done is actually duplicate the header in the source, so it’s on the page twice. Would be fairly confusing for someone using a screenreader. Also, they duplicated the code exactly, so the id’s of the table cells are the same (nevermind that it should be table headers, not table cells).

I’d love to see something like this implemented with a little more thought for the accessibility side of things as well.

]]> By: Marla Erwin http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/comment-page-1/#comment-83898 Marla Erwin Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:29:22 +0000 http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2007/08/02/floating-headers-for-tabular-data/#comment-83898 There isn't much visual indication of the header's "floatingness" -- i.e., it is hard to tell there is any data above the first visible field. Otherwise though the concept is a good one, and the more columns in the table, the more valuable it would be. There isn’t much visual indication of the header’s “floatingness” — i.e., it is hard to tell there is any data above the first visible field. Otherwise though the concept is a good one, and the more columns in the table, the more valuable it would be.

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