Gary Schnabl wrote:
Flip a coin or have others chime in on whether we should use one vertical alignment of table cells over another alignment OR simply leave it as is--let the writer decide. The latter would, of course, cause an uneven-appearing series of tables.
I think leaving it up to the individual writer would introduce an unwelcome lack of uniformity. Personally, I think there should be an established style.
The top alignment of one-line paragraphs makes the text somewhat unappealing when combined with other rows of full cells (vertically). But that's my personal opinion. The best way would be for a number of others to visually compare the two options and choose what looks better.
Yes, I agree, a side-by-side comparison would be handy. Many short Tips and Notes, that are only one line, usually compress the table row well enough that there isn't a noticeable difference between whether the Tip or Note word in the preceding column is center or top aligned. With longer Notes of multiple lines, or even multiple paragraphs, it can get a little weird looking though, if the "Note" or "Tip" is floating somewhere in the middle of the cell. To me, it causes the eye have to jump around too much for those longer Notes. When top aligned, the reader sees the Note or Tip designation, and then follows directly to the right to begin reading the content of the note. At least for left-to-right reading audiences. I suppose that a center alignment would work well for top-to-bottom reading audiences.
Anyway, that's my general thoughts on it. Once I finish up with this project that I'm on a deadline (probably a week or so), I'd be happy to put together a sample document with some "lorem ipsum" tables and different alignments so that we have something to look at and decide what looks best.
Thanks, Sak.
