Should we use tables in our profiles?

Question

There has been a discussion in the profile improvement Discord channel. Lots of opinions about tables. On the one hand they make it easy to digest the facts, On the other, they require an extension or an app to create and can be hard for us who don't understand the format when we are editing a profile.

Comments

For context here is an example of a profile I created where I used the WikiTree Sourcer extension to create tables for the census events.

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Pavey-457&public=1

I may have edited the content of the tables to add info that was not transcribed or to correct errors in the transcriptions. Tables are pretty easy to edit if you are not adding rows or columns.

Answer 1

I have no idea what an extension is and have no apps, but I do make tables, especially for census returns since the British images are copyright. They are time consuming but make for clarity. Really don't know how to present census material clearly any other way.

Answer 2

I know how to make tables but I don't use them for census records. I don't use them because I think they can be confusing for some members who may want to edit the profile later. There is a caution about this in the Help pages. I also think the census records I create look fine without being in a table.

I do use tables occasionally to organize images but I don't have that many profiles with images.

Answer 3

There won't be agreement on this. I've had to fix numerous tables that other users have accidentally broken. The various extensions don't work on the browser I use isn't supported so I can't use them. Tables are largely personal preference. I was taught not to use tables of facts in biographies due to them having the potential to make the biography about the biographer and the biographer's approach to research rather than the person. There are other schools of thought.

Comments

Which browser are you using Doug? The WikiTree Sourcer extension works in most browsers now and can create household tables for censuses.

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Doesn't work with Safari, at least last time I tried.

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There is now a Safari version in the App Store. It works in Safari version 15.2. I'm not sure if it works in earlier versions. It works on both Mac and iOS.