10+ Guidelines for Better Tables in R

Make tables people ACTUALLY want to read.

data visualization
tables
tidyverse
TidyTuesday
gt
Author

Thomas Mock

Published

2020-09-04

Jon Schwabish

After seeing Jon’s Twitter thread, I asked him if I could adapt the examples over to R. He graciously agreed, so I’ve gone ahead and adapted some examples from his 10 Guidelines article 1 below in the R package gt. Jon also has a Better Data Visualizations book coming out in Jan 2021 - check it out at Columbia University Press.

  • 1 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-benefit-cost-analysis/article/ten-guidelines-for-better-tables/74C6FD9FEB12038A52A95B9FBCA05A12

    • Please note that the 10 Guidelines section headers are quoted verbatim from Jon’s article (after asking permission), while the tables themselves and text descriptions are original content inspired from his work.

    10 Rules for Tables
    - Twitter Thread - In this thread, Jon covers the highpoints of each of the 10 guidelines
    - 10 Guidelines in the Journal of Benefit Cost Analysis - In this article, Jon dives even deeper into the WHY and longer explanations of the guidelines, along with some best practice examples

    Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

    The Storytelling with Data community (#SWDchallenge) is hosting a “Build a Table” challenge for September 2020. Check out the resources below and try your hand to create some beautiful tables!

    Find some data of interest that will lend itself well and create and share a table.
    Share your creation in the SWD community by September 30th at 5PM PDT. If there is any specific feedback or input that you would find helpful, include that detail in your commentary.

    Stephen Few

    I also have some overview examples from Stephen Few’s book Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten. In my opinion, Stephen Few’s Show Me the Numbers 2 is one of the best if not the best general books on both data visualization and data tables. There are more recent books on data viz, but very few address tables at all, much less with the depth that Few does! I am barely scratching the surface of what Stephen and Jon cover - so make sure to check out their resources!

  • 2 http://www.stephen-few.com/smtn.php

    • Few summarizes the difference between Tables and Graphs:
    > Tables: Display used to look up and compare individual values
    > Graphs: Display used to reveal relationships among whole sets of values and their overall shape

    When to use each

    He further suggests when to use which format:

    Use Tables When Use Graphs When
    • The display will be used to look up individual values
    • The display will be used to reveal relationships among whole sets of values
    • It will be used to compare individual values
    • The message is contained in the shape of the values (e.g., patterns, trends, exceptions)
    • Precise values are required
    • Quantitative values include more than one unit of measure
    • Both detail and summary values are included
    Adapted from:
    Few, Stephen. (2012). Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten.(4)57

    This table thus separates Data Viz and Data Tables into their specific purposes, however like most rules you can bend these with creative use.

    Taxonomy of table uses

    While that’s helpful, I also think that his taxonomy of the Primary Function, Relationship Type, and Relationship are extremely useful for determining the purpose of your table. Similar to data viz it’s all too easy to simply throw data into a table and not think about how to improve its function. I’ve adapted his taxonomy and added my own examples with the #TidyTuesday dataset from week 36 of 2020.

    With this taxonomy you can specifically choose what you purpose/function you are giving the table. Again, it’s important to not just throw data into a tabular format and call it a day, but rather make specific design decisions to help guide the reader towards the purpose of the table. All too often we do all the heavy lifting to clean, summarize, and model the data only to let our readers down by not preparing a useful final data product.

    We should be making conscious decisions:

    • What is the Primary Function of this table?
    • How is the data related?
    • How can I best present the data relationships to accomplish the primary function?
    • Can I improve the readability?
    • Can I reduce repetition?
    • Can I guide the reader to use the table in a better way?

    gt: A Grammar of Tables

    gt is again, an R package to create tables in R. It provides a Grammar of Tables to turn tabular data into a proper table!

    While gt is fantastic, I also greatly enjoy other table packages in R:
    - kableExtra - great for HTML/LaTex
    - formattable - great for custom fill of cells and HTML
    - DT or reactable - great for reactive tables
    - flextable - A very useful package for Word-based tables

    Additionally - if your primary output is model summaries rather than data tables, make sure to check out the wonderful gtsummary R package which extends the gt package for statistical model summaries. Note that while it uses gt, it also further supports kable, kableExtra, flextable (for Word docs), and tibble methods.

    The “grammar” of tables can be seen below.

    Diagram of the parts of a table

    With this as our starting point, we can use code to add specific portions and change the overall structure and appearance of the tables.

    Basic gt Table

    You can create a table by passing in data to gt(), and the idea is that you progressively add layers/changes to the gt table via the pipe.

    # This works!
# gt(yield_data_wide)

# pipe also works!
yield_data_wide %>% 
  gt()
    Country crop 2014 2015 2016
    China maize 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    China potatoes 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India maize 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    India potatoes 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia maize 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    Indonesia potatoes 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549
    Mexico maize 3.2964 3.4782 3.7180
    Mexico potatoes 27.3384 27.1435 27.9260
    Pakistan maize 4.3211 4.4248 4.5491
    Pakistan potatoes 18.1506 23.4439 22.4346
    United States maize 10.7326 10.5723 11.7433
    United States potatoes 47.1507 46.9000 48.6408

    Add Groups

    You can “split” a table intro groups by passes a grouped tibble…

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>% 
  group_by(Country) %>% # respects grouping from dplyr
  gt(rowname_col = "crop")
    2014 2015 2016
    China
    maize 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    potatoes 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India
    maize 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    potatoes 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia
    maize 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    Or by adding it as an explicit argument within gt.

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  )
    2014 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    Groups are also useful for groupwise summary rows! Notice I’m also using fmt_number() to decrease the decimal point precision of the numbers. It will default to 2 decimal places, although you can specify whatever number of decimals you want. You may also notice that I referenced the columns by position in fmt_number(), but used tidy-eval w/ vars() in summary_rows(). You can always fall back to either method!

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  mutate(crop = str_to_title(crop)) %>% 
  group_by(crop) %>% 
  gt(
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = 2:5, # reference cols by position
    decimals = 2 # decrease decimal places
    ) %>% 
  summary_rows(
    groups = TRUE,
    columns = vars(`2014`, `2015`, `2016`), # reference cols by name
    fns = list(
      avg = ~mean(.), # add as many summary stats as you want!
      sd = ~sd(.)
    )
  )
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    2014 2015 2016
    Maize
    China 5.81 5.89 5.97
    India 2.61 2.60 2.62
    Indonesia 4.95 5.18 5.31
    Mexico 3.30 3.48 3.72
    Pakistan 4.32 4.42 4.55
    United States 10.73 10.57 11.74
    avg 5.29 5.36 5.65
    sd 2.90 2.81 3.21
    Potatoes
    China 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    avg 25.06 26.01 25.91
    sd 11.51 10.86 11.73

    Add spanners

    Table spanners can be added quickly with tab_spanner() and again use either position (column number) or + vars(name).

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>% 
  tab_spanner(
    label = "Yield in Tonnes/Hectare", 
    columns = 2:5
    )
    Yield in Tonnes/Hectare
    2014 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    Add notes and titles

    Footnotes can be added with tab_footnote(). Note that this is our first use of the locations argument. Locations is used with things like cells_column_labels() or cells_body(), cells_summary() to offer very tight control of where to place certain changes. While you can still reference columns by position, note that I use 1:3 here instead of 2:5 since I’m referencing just the column labels. You can again use vars(name) instead of position.

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>% 
  tab_footnote(
    footnote = "Yield in Tonnes/Hectare", 
    locations = cells_column_labels(
      columns = 1:3 # note
      )
    )
    20141 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549
    1 Yield in Tonnes/Hectare

    Adding a source_note()

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>% 
  tab_footnote(
    footnote = "Yield in Tonnes/Hectare", 
    locations = cells_column_labels(
      columns = 1:3 # note
      )
    ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(source_note = "Data: OurWorldInData")
    20141 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549
    Data: OurWorldInData
    1 Yield in Tonnes/Hectare

    Adding a title or subtitle with tab_header() and notice that I used md() around the title and html() around subtitle to adjust their appearance. You can use these to parse those types of arbitrary code within a specific portion of the table.

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>%
  tab_header(
    title = md("**Crop Yields between 2014 and 2016**"),
    subtitle = html("<em>Countries limited to Asia</em>")
  )
    Crop Yields between 2014 and 2016
    Countries limited to Asia
    2014 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    Adjust appearance

    You can customize large chunks of the table appearance all at once via tab_options(). The full reference to ALL the options you can customize are in the gt packagedown site.

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>%
  tab_header(
    title = "Crop Yields between 2014 and 2016",
    subtitle = "Countries limited to Asia"
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    heading.subtitle.font.size = 12,
    heading.align = "left",
    table.border.top.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width= px(3),
  )
    Crop Yields between 2014 and 2016
    Countries limited to Asia
    2014 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    Because gt is built up by a series of piped examples, you can also pass along additional changes/customization as a function almost like a ggplot2 theme! You’ll notice that it’s VERY easy and quick to build up the bulk of a gt table, but you can also spend 2-3x the amount of code to add all sorts of little tweaks and customizations. Saving some of these tweaks as a “theme” can save you lots of repeated code calls!

    my_theme <- function(data) {
  tab_options(
    data = data,
    heading.subtitle.font.size = 12,
    heading.align = "left",
    table.border.top.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width= px(3),
  )
}

yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>%
  tab_header(
    title = "Crop Yields between 2014 and 2016",
    subtitle = "Countries limited to Asia"
  ) %>% 
  my_theme()
    Crop Yields between 2014 and 2016
    Countries limited to Asia
    2014 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    If you want to style values or a specific cell, you’ll want to use tab_style(), note that you can reference specific types of changes in the style, and by wrapping it in a list as seen below you can make multiple changes at a time. You are limited to one set of locations however.

    Locations can take column/row by position (eg columns = 1, rows = c(5:6)) or with columns by name via vars(col_name). Lastly, you can use logical expressions in rows = to match certain criteria to assign a style. Here I’m assigning red italics to China’s crop outputs only with the following code: rows = Country == "China".

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt() %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(weight = "bold")
    ),
    locations = cells_column_labels(everything())
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_fill(color = "black", alpha = 0.2),
      cell_borders(
        side = c("left", "right"), 
        color = "black",
        weight = px(2)
        )
      ),
    locations = cells_body(
      columns = vars(crop)
      )
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(color = "red", style = "italic")
    ),
    locations = cells_body(
      columns = 3:5,
      rows = Country == "China"
    )
  ) 
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    Country crop 2014 2015 2016
    China maize 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    China potatoes 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India maize 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    India potatoes 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia maize 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    Indonesia potatoes 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    If you want to do more of a dataviz style color gradient rather than assigning colors one at a time, you can use data_color() along with something like scales::col_numeric(). Note that I’m using paletteer to provide the palette, but you can also provide your own palette. Also - domain could be specified for a specific range, otherwise it will fit the colors to whatever range is present in the data.

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>% 
  data_color(
    columns = vars(`2014`, `2015`, `2016`),
    colors = scales::col_numeric(
      paletteer::paletteer_d(
        palette = "ggsci::red_material") %>% as.character(),
        domain = NULL
        )
      )
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    2014 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    Here we create our own palette with just a vector of color names (could also be a vector of hex colors). You can see now that the red is dark enough that gt automatically changes the colors of the text to better contrast. You can turn this feature off with autocolor_text = FALSE

    yield_data_wide %>% 
  head() %>%
  gt(
    groupname_col = "crop",
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>% 
  data_color(
    columns = vars(`2014`, `2015`, `2016`),
    colors = scales::col_numeric(
      c("white", "pink", "red"),
        domain = NULL
        )
      )
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    2014 2015 2016
    maize
    China 5.8091 5.8929 5.9667
    India 2.6107 2.5972 2.6162
    Indonesia 4.9540 5.1784 5.3052
    potatoes
    China 17.1416 17.2684 17.6866
    India 22.9224 23.1257 20.5087
    Indonesia 17.6668 18.2027 18.2549

    That’s it for the basics of gt! Now, let’s dive into Jon Schwabish’s “10 Guidelines for Better Tables” where we can apply some of these techniques to some table examples.

    10 Guidelines with gt

    The core data comes from #TidyTuesday week 36 of 2020. Let’s load up the data and clean it up a bit. We’ll be using portions of this data throughout.

    library(tidyverse)
library(gt)
tuesdata <- tidytuesdayR::tt_load(2020, "36")
    country_sel <- c("China", "India", "United States", "Indonesia", "Mexico", "Pakistan")

yield_data <- tuesdata$key_crop_yields %>% 
  janitor::clean_names() %>% 
  rename_with(~str_remove(., "_tonnes_per_hectare")) %>% 
  select(entity:beans, -code) %>% 
  pivot_longer(cols = wheat:beans, names_to = "crop", values_to = "yield") %>% 
  rename(Country = entity)

    Rule 1: Offset the Heads from the Body

    The goal here is to clearly separate your column titles from the body of the table. Typically bold face, separator lines indicate categories/labels (column titles) from values (table body).

    First we can prep the data to align with the examples.

    # data prep
potato_data <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(Country %in% country_sel, crop == "potatoes", year %in% c(2013:2016)) %>% 
  filter(crop == "potatoes") %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = "yield")

    1. Poor Example

    Rule 1 | Poor example gt code 
    potato_tb <- potato_data %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  cols_hide(vars(crop)) %>% 
  opt_table_lines(extent = "none") %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = 3:6,
    decimals = 2
  )
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    potato_tb
    Country 2013 2014 2015 2016
    China 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64

    1. Improved Example

    Rule 1 | Improved gt code 
    rule1_good <- potato_tb %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(weight = "bold")
    ),
    locations = cells_column_labels(everything())
  ) %>% 
  opt_table_lines(extent = "default") %>%
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.top.color = "white",
    column_labels.border.top.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3)
  ) %>% tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    rule1_good
    Country 2013 2014 2015 2016
    China 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 2: Use Subtle Dividers Rather Than Heavy Gridlines

    The idea here is that you want to clearly indicate dividers when necessary. Especially with many column labels, you want to make sure that changes in the structure are clear.

    # data prep
rule2_data <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(Country %in% country_sel, crop == "potatoes", year %in% c(2007:2016)) %>% 
  filter(crop == "potatoes") %>% 
  select(-crop) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = "yield") %>% 
  rowwise() %>% 
  mutate(
    avg_07_11 = mean(`2007`:`2011`),
    .before = `2012`
    ) %>% 
  mutate(
    avg_12_16 = mean(`2012`:`2016`)
  ) %>% 
  ungroup()

    2. Poor Example

    In this case, while you can probably tell clearly that the bottom row is the Average of each column, did you notice the Avg for 2007-11 and 2012-16?

    Rule 2 | Poor example gt code 
    rule2_tab1 <- rule2_data %>% 
  gt(
    rowname_col = "Country"
  ) %>% 
  cols_label(
    avg_07_11 = "Avg.",
    avg_12_16 = "Avg."
  ) %>% 
  cols_width(
    1 ~ px(125)
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = 2:last_col()
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_borders(
      side = "all",
      color = "grey",
      weight = px(1),
      style = "solid"
    ),
    locations = list(
      cells_body(
        everything()
        ),
      cells_column_labels(
        everything()
      )
      )
  ) %>% 
  grand_summary_rows(
    columns = 2:last_col(),
    fns = list(
      "Average" = ~mean(.)
    ),
    formatter = fmt_number
  )
    rule2_tab1
    2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Avg. 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Avg.
    China 14.63 15.18 14.42 15.67 16.28 15.13 16.77 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69 16.77
    India 16.41 19.30 18.81 19.93 22.72 19.41 21.75 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51 21.25
    Indonesia 16.09 16.67 16.51 15.94 15.96 16.09 16.58 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25 17.08
    Mexico 27.06 27.73 27.74 27.76 26.27 27.06 26.81 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93 27.31
    Pakistan 19.35 16.46 20.28 22.68 21.92 20.35 18.34 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43 20.34
    United States 44.43 44.44 46.44 44.94 44.69 44.43 45.78 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64 46.78
    Average 23.00 23.29 24.03 24.49 24.64 23.75 24.34 25.13 25.06 26.01 25.91 24.92

    2. Improved Example

    In this improved example we’ve clearly indicated the Avg. columns. Note that I’ve also manually calculated a summary row at the bottom just as an alternative example, although you could again create a grand_summary_row() with gt and probably should since you could add as many arbitrary summary rows as you’d like (by group even!). We used that in the previous example.

    Rule 2 | Improved gt code 
    rule2_tab2 <- rule2_data %>% 
  add_row(
    rule2_data %>% 
      summarize(
        across(where(is.double), 
               list(Average = mean),
               .names = "{col}")
      ) %>% 
      mutate(Country = "Average")
  ) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  cols_label(
    avg_07_11 = "Avg.",
    avg_12_16 = "Avg."
  ) %>%
  fmt_number(
    columns = 2:last_col()
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_fill(
      color = "lightgrey"
    ),
    locations = list(
      cells_body(
        columns = vars(avg_07_11, avg_12_16)
        ),
      cells_column_labels(
        columns = vars(avg_07_11, avg_12_16)
      )
      )
  ) %>%
  tab_style(
    style = cell_borders(
      sides = "top",
      color = "black",
      weight = px(2)
    ),
    locations = cells_body(
      columns = everything(),
      rows = Country == "Average"
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(weight = "bold")
    ),
    locations = cells_column_labels(everything())
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.top.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.top.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black"
  )
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule2_tab2 %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Avg. 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Avg.
    China 14.63 15.18 14.42 15.67 16.28 15.13 16.77 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69 16.77
    India 16.41 19.30 18.81 19.93 22.72 19.41 21.75 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51 21.25
    Indonesia 16.09 16.67 16.51 15.94 15.96 16.09 16.58 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25 17.08
    Mexico 27.06 27.73 27.74 27.76 26.27 27.06 26.81 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93 27.31
    Pakistan 19.35 16.46 20.28 22.68 21.92 20.35 18.34 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43 20.34
    United States 44.43 44.44 46.44 44.94 44.69 44.43 45.78 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64 46.78
    Average 23.00 23.29 24.03 24.49 24.64 23.75 24.34 25.13 25.06 26.01 25.91 24.92
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 3: Right-Align Numbers and Heads

    In this case, you want to right align numbers and ideally choose mono-spaced or numerically-aligned fonts, while avoiding “oldstyle” fonts which have numbers with varying vertical placement. Importantly, gt already automatically follows best practices for the most part so we have to change some of the defaults to get bad examples.

    # Prep data
rule3_data <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(Country == "United States", year %in% c(2016)) %>% 
  mutate(crop = str_to_title(crop)) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = "yield") %>% 
  arrange(crop) %>% 
  select(-Country, Crop = crop)

    3. Comparison of alignment

    Notice that left-alignment or center-alignment of numbers impairs the ability to clearly compare numbers and decimal places. Right-alignment lets you align decimal places and numbers for easy parsing.

    Rule 3 | Alignment gt code 
    rule3_align <- rule3_data %>% 
  mutate(`Center align` = `2016`,
             `Right align` = `2016`) %>%
  rename(`Left align` = 2) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(weight = "bold")
    ),
    locations = cells_column_labels(everything())
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = 2:4
  ) %>% 
  cols_align(align = "left",
             columns = 2) %>% 
  cols_align(align = "center",
             columns = 3) %>% 
  cols_align(align = "right",
             columns = 4) %>% 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.top.color = "white",
    column_labels.border.top.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3)
  )
    rule3_align %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Crop Left align Center align Right align
    Beans 2.06 2.06 2.06
    Maize 11.74 11.74 11.74
    Potatoes 48.64 48.64 48.64
    Rice 8.11 8.11 8.11
    Soybeans 3.49 3.49 3.49
    Wheat 3.54 3.54 3.54
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    3. Addendums to alignment

    When aligning text of equal length (long or very short), center alignment of text can be fine or even preferable. For example, very short text with a long header can be better suited to center-align. Equal length text can be centered without negatively affecting the ability to quickly read.

    rule3_data_addendum <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(
    Country %in% c("Africa"), 
    year >= 2015,
    str_length(crop) == 5
    ) %>%
  group_by(year) %>% 
  mutate(
    crop = str_to_title(crop),
    max_yield = max(yield),
    `Top Crop` = if_else(yield == max_yield, "Y", "N")
    ) %>%
  select(Year = year, Crop = crop, `Top Crop`, Yield = yield) %>% 
  ungroup()

    While the table below could be improved in other ways and has quite a bit of repetition, note that the Top Crop column has too much white space on the right side due to defaulting to left-alignment. This makes it “stick” too much to the adjacent column.

    rule3_data_addendum %>% 
  gt()
    Year Crop Top Crop Yield
    2015 Wheat Y 2.8369
    2015 Maize N 1.9433
    2015 Beans N 0.9054
    2016 Wheat Y 2.4504
    2016 Maize N 1.8745
    2016 Beans N 0.8678
    2017 Wheat Y 2.5580
    2017 Maize N 2.0922
    2017 Beans N 0.9035
    2018 Wheat Y 2.8639
    2018 Maize N 2.0402
    2018 Beans N 0.8954

    Moving the Top Crop column to center-alignment makes it easier to visually parse the column, and note that centering the Crop Column has no negative effect on the alignment or ability to read as each cell value has equal length (as long as the font-choice is one that doesn’t have major differenceds in charater width). The left-alignment rule for text is a good default, but is more effective with variable width text especially with large variation (ie length = 10 interspersed with length = 5).

    rule3_data_addendum %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  gt::cols_align(
    align = "center",
    columns = vars(`Top Crop`, Crop)
  )
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    Year Crop Top Crop Yield
    2015 Wheat Y 2.8369
    2015 Maize N 1.9433
    2015 Beans N 0.9054
    2016 Wheat Y 2.4504
    2016 Maize N 1.8745
    2016 Beans N 0.8678
    2017 Wheat Y 2.5580
    2017 Maize N 2.0922
    2017 Beans N 0.9035
    2018 Wheat Y 2.8639
    2018 Maize N 2.0402
    2018 Beans N 0.8954

    As an aside, note that pivot_wider() can also improve the function of this table, reducing repetition of both the Crop and Top Crop columns. Again, center alignment helps with the Top Crop column regardless.

    rule3_data_addendum %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = Year, values_from = Yield) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  gt::cols_align(
    align = "center",
    columns = vars(`Top Crop`)
  ) 
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    Crop Top Crop 2015 2016 2017 2018
    Wheat Y 2.8369 2.4504 2.5580 2.8639
    Maize N 1.9433 1.8745 2.0922 2.0402
    Beans N 0.9054 0.8678 0.9035 0.8954

    3. Choose fonts carefully

    For the fonts below, notice that the Default for gt along with a monospaced font in Fira Mono have nice alignment of decimal places and equally-spaced numbers. In contrast, Karla, Cabin, and Georgia have issues with alignment of numbers/decimals horizontally and vertically. We’ve underlined the numbers so you can see the vertical-spacing issues with Georgia specifically.

    Rule 3 | Choosing Fonts gt code 
    rule3_text <- rule3_data %>% 
  mutate(Karla = `2016`,
             Cabin = `2016`,
             Georgia = `2016`,
             `Fira Mono` = `2016`) %>%
  rename(Default = 2) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(font = "Default", decorate = "underline")
    ),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_labels(
        vars(Default)
        ),
      cells_body(
        vars(Default)
      )
  )
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(font = "Karla", decorate = "underline")
    ),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_labels(
        vars(Karla)
      ),
      cells_body(
        vars(Karla)
      )
    )
  )  %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(font = "Cabin", decorate = "underline")
    ),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_labels(
        vars(Cabin)
      ),
      cells_body(
        vars(Cabin)
      )
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(font = "Georgia", decorate = "underline")
    ),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_labels(
        vars(Georgia)
      ),
      cells_body(
        vars(Georgia)
      )
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(font = "Fira Mono", decorate = "underline")
    ),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_labels(
        vars(`Fira Mono`)
      ),
      cells_body(
        vars(`Fira Mono`)
      )
    )
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(columns = 2:6) %>% 
  tab_spanner(
    label = "Good",
    columns = c(2, 6)
  ) %>% 
  tab_spanner(
    "Bad",
    3:5
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.top.color = "white",
    column_labels.border.top.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3)
  )
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule3_text %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Crop Good Bad
    Default Fira Mono Karla Cabin Georgia
    Beans 2.06 2.06 2.06 2.06 2.06
    Maize 11.74 11.74 11.74 11.74 11.74
    Potatoes 48.64 48.64 48.64 48.64 48.64
    Rice 8.11 8.11 8.11 8.11 8.11
    Soybeans 3.49 3.49 3.49 3.49 3.49
    Wheat 3.54 3.54 3.54 3.54 3.54
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 4: Left-align Text and Heads

    For labels/strings it is typically more appropriate to left-align. This allows your eye to follow both short and long text vertically to scan a table, along with a clear border.

    Rule 4 | Alignment gt code 
    country_names <- c(
  "British Virgin Islands",
  "Cayman Islands",
  "Democratic Republic of Congo",
  "Luxembourg", 
  "United States",
  "Germany",
  "New Zealand",
  "Costa Rica",
  "Peru"
)

rule4_tab_left <- tibble(
  right = country_names,
  center = country_names,
  left = country_names
) %>% 
  gt()  %>% 
  cols_align(align = "left",
             columns = 3) %>% 
  cols_align(align = "center",
             columns = 2) %>% 
  cols_align(align = "right",
             columns = 1) %>% 
  cols_width(
    everything() ~ px(250)
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.top.color = "white",
    column_labels.border.top.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.font.weight = "bold",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3),
    data_row.padding = px(3)
  ) %>% 
  cols_label(
    right = md("Right aligned and<br>hard to read"),
    center = md("Centered and<br>even harder to read"),
    left = md("Left-aligned and<br>easiest to read")
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    rule4_tab_left
    Right aligned and
    hard to read    		 Centered and
    even harder to read    		 Left-aligned and
    easiest to read
    British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands
    Cayman Islands Cayman Islands Cayman Islands
    Democratic Republic of Congo Democratic Republic of Congo Democratic Republic of Congo
    Luxembourg Luxembourg Luxembourg
    United States United States United States
    Germany Germany Germany
    New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand
    Costa Rica Costa Rica Costa Rica
    Peru Peru Peru
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 5: Select the Appropriate Level of Precision

    While you can sometimes justify increased decimal places, often 1 or 2 can help with the appearance of the table and clean up the overall flow. Additionally, for many measure the accuracy in your dataset may be more detailed than what is appropriate from the data collection tool itself.

    Rule 5 | Precision gt code 
    rule5_tab <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(Country %in% country_sel, crop == "potatoes", year %in% c(2016)) %>% 
  select(Country, yield) %>% 
  mutate(few = yield, right = yield) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = vars(few),
    decimals = 0
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = vars(right),
    decimals = 1
  ) %>% 
  cols_label(
    yield = md("Too many<br>decimals"),
    few = md("Too few<br>decimals"),
    right = md("About<br>right")
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule5_tab
    Country Too many
    decimals    		 Too few
    decimals    		 About
    right
    China 17.6866 18 17.7
    India 20.5087 21 20.5
    Indonesia 18.2549 18 18.3
    Mexico 27.9260 28 27.9
    Pakistan 22.4346 22 22.4
    United States 48.6408 49 48.6
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 6: Guide Your Reader with Space between Rows and Columns

    While there is a bit of art to the science of spacing - think of how you want to guide the reader. You want to make it easy to move horizontally and/or vertically depending on the purpose of the table. Additionally, increasing spacing can improve the overall readability of the table although TOO much space can be distracting.

    Rule 6 | Table Spacing gt code 
    rule6_data <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(Country %in% country_sel, crop == "potatoes", year %in% c(2014:2016)) %>% 
  filter(crop == "potatoes") %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = "yield") %>% 
  select(-crop)

rule6_tb <- rule6_data %>% 
  add_row(
    rule6_data %>% 
      summarize(
        across(where(is.double), 
               list(Average = mean),
               .names = "{col}")
      ) %>% 
      mutate(Country = "Average")
  ) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = 2:4,
    decimals = 2
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(weight = "bold")
    ),
    locations = cells_column_labels(everything())
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_borders(
      sides = "top",
      color = "black",
      weight = px(2)
    ),
    locations = cells_body(
      columns = everything(),
      rows = Country == "Average"
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.top.color = "white",
    column_labels.border.top.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3)
      ) %>% 
  cols_width(vars(Country) ~ px(125),
             2:4 ~ px(75))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

    Note that while this table is useful it guides the reader towards vertical comparison within year.

    rule6_tb %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 2014 2015 2016
    China 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Alternatively, this “taller” table pushes the reader towards horizontal tracking of the table.

    rule6_tb %>% 
  tab_options(data_row.padding = px(20)) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 2014 2015 2016
    China 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 7: Remove Unit Repetition

    The goal here is to remove repetition of units to improve readability and increase the signal to noise ratio in the table. For our example, we are dropping the % sign after the first appearance. While this is easy to do with currency symbols at the start of the row, the % sign at the end alters the alignment of the cells. gt actually has an open Github Issue to allow for this feature, but in the meantime I have two strategies to accomplish the % trick as seen below.

    rule6_tb %>% 
  fmt_percent(
    columns = 2:4,
    rows = 1,
    scale_values = FALSE
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 2014 2015 2016
    China 17.14% 17.27% 17.69%
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    We can try to align left for examples that ALL have the same range (ie all in the 10’s) as the numbers will align properly, although variation in the units can again mess up the alignment.

    rule6_tb %>% 
  fmt_percent(
    columns = 2:4,
    rows = 1,
    scale_values = FALSE
  ) %>% 
  cols_align(
    columns = 2:4,
    align = "left"
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 2014 2015 2016
    China 17.14% 17.27% 17.69%
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    A custom function could be used (and I’ve done that with gtExtras::fmt_symbol_first).

    Note that that while the function below works just fine, the gtExtras function is much more robust to user input.
    fmt_pct_first <- function(x, rows = 1){
  sym_add <- ifelse(rows == 1, "%", "&nbsp;")
  x <- format(round(x, digits = 2), nsmall = 2)
  paste0(x, sym_add)
}

head(mtcars) %>%
  gt() %>%
  fmt(mpg, rows = 1, function(x) fmt_pct_first(x, 1)) %>%
  fmt(mpg, rows = 2:6, function(x) fmt_pct_first(x, 2:6)) %>% 
  # have to use monospace font to control alignment properly
  tab_style(style = cell_text(font = "monospace"), 
    locations = cells_body(mpg))
    mpg cyl disp hp drat wt qsec vs am gear carb
    21.00% 6 160 110 3.90 2.620 16.46 0 1 4 4
    21.00  6 160 110 3.90 2.875 17.02 0 1 4 4
    22.80  4 108 93 3.85 2.320 18.61 1 1 4 1
    21.40  6 258 110 3.08 3.215 19.44 1 0 3 1
    18.70  8 360 175 3.15 3.440 17.02 0 0 3 2
    18.10  6 225 105 2.76 3.460 20.22 1 0 3 1

    Alternatively, you could always add the % sign to each of the column labels, so that it’s clear that the columns are actually percentages rather than just raw numbers.

    rule6_tb %>% 
  cols_label(
    `2014` = "2014 (%)",
    `2015` = "2015 (%)",
    `2016` = "2016 (%)"
  ) %>% 
  cols_width(
    2:4 ~ px(100)
  )  %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 2014 (%) 2015 (%) 2016 (%)
    China 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Or add a spanner across the columns.

    rule6_tb %>% 
  tab_spanner(
    label = md("**% Yield of Total**"),
    columns = 2:4
  )  %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country % Yield of Total
    2014 2015 2016
    China 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Lastly - you could add a footnote.

    rule6_tb %>% 
  tab_footnote(
    footnote = md("**% Yield of Total**"),
    locations = cells_column_labels(2:4)
  )  %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 20141 20151 20161
    China 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish
    1% Yield of Total

    Tradeoffs

    There are trade offs with these steps beyond the core idea of just reducing repetition. Ideally gt will add native support for dropping repeated units, but in the meantime these strategies can let you add context to a table without just keeping a unit in every column.

    As a truly final aside, note that for some currencies or other measures that are available at the start of a value rather than an end work out perfectly!

    rule6_tb %>% 
  fmt_currency(
    columns = 2:4,
    rows = 1
  )  %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Country 2014 2015 2016
    China $17.14 $17.27 $17.69
    India 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Average 25.06 26.01 25.91
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 8: Highlight Outliers

    With large data tables, it can be useful to take a page from our Data Viz and highlight outliers with color or shape.

    rule8_data <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(Country %in% country_sel, crop == "potatoes", year %in% 2009:2017) %>% 
  group_by(Country) %>% 
  mutate(pct_change = (yield/lag(yield)-1)*100) %>% 
  ungroup() %>% 
  filter(between(year, 2010, 2016)) %>% 
  select(Country, year, pct_change) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = pct_change)

    The plain data we don’t fully recognize the negative values instantly.

    Rule 8 | Plain table gt code 
    rule8_tb <- rule8_data %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  fmt_number(2:last_col()) %>% 
  cols_label(
    Country = ""
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(weight = "bold")
    ),
    locations = cells_column_labels(everything())
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.top.color = "white",
    column_labels.border.top.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width = px(3),
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3)
  ) %>% 
  cols_width(vars(Country) ~ px(125),
             2:last_col() ~ px(75))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule8_tb %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
    China 8.68 3.92 3.00 1.91 0.30 0.74 2.42
    India 5.95 14.02 −4.27 4.63 0.71 0.89 −11.32
    Indonesia −3.44 0.07 3.92 −3.40 10.29 3.03 0.29
    Mexico 0.07 −5.35 2.04 −0.13 2.10 −0.71 2.88
    Pakistan 11.82 −3.36 −16.33 18.89 −16.76 29.16 −4.31
    United States −3.23 −0.56 2.43 1.27 1.71 −0.53 3.71
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    However, with a bit of color added we can clearly focus on the outliers.

    Rule 8 | Text color gt code 
    rule8_color <- rule8_tb %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "red"),
    locations = list(
      cells_body(
        columns = 2,
        rows = `2010` < 0
    ),
    cells_body(
      columns = 3,
      rows = `2011` < 0
    ),
    cells_body(
      columns = 4,
      rows = `2012` < 0
    ),
    cells_body(
      columns = 5,
      rows = `2013` < 0
    ),
    cells_body(
      columns = 6,
      rows = `2014` < 0
    ),
    cells_body(
      columns = 7,
      rows = `2015` < 0
    ),
    cells_body(
      columns = 8,
      rows = `2016` < 0
    )
  )
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    rule8_color
    2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
    China 8.68 3.92 3.00 1.91 0.30 0.74 2.42
    India 5.95 14.02 −4.27 4.63 0.71 0.89 −11.32
    Indonesia −3.44 0.07 3.92 −3.40 10.29 3.03 0.29
    Mexico 0.07 −5.35 2.04 −0.13 2.10 −0.71 2.88
    Pakistan 11.82 −3.36 −16.33 18.89 −16.76 29.16 −4.31
    United States −3.23 −0.56 2.43 1.27 1.71 −0.53 3.71
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    We can really pull the focus with background fill of each cell outlier.

    Rule 8 | Cell fill gt code 
    rule8_fill <- rule8_tb %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_fill(color = scales::alpha("red", 0.7)),
      cell_text(color = "white", weight = "bold")
      ),
    locations = list(
      cells_body(
        columns = 2,
        rows = `2010` < 0
      ),
      cells_body(
        columns = 3,
        rows = `2011` < 0
      ),
      cells_body(
        columns = 4,
        rows = `2012` < 0
      ),
      cells_body(
        columns = 5,
        rows = `2013` < 0
      ),
      cells_body(
        columns = 6,
        rows = `2014` < 0
      ),
      cells_body(
        columns = 7,
        rows = `2015` < 0
      ),
      cells_body(
        columns = 8,
        rows = `2016` < 0
      )
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    rule8_fill
    2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
    China 8.68 3.92 3.00 1.91 0.30 0.74 2.42
    India 5.95 14.02 −4.27 4.63 0.71 0.89 −11.32
    Indonesia −3.44 0.07 3.92 −3.40 10.29 3.03 0.29
    Mexico 0.07 −5.35 2.04 −0.13 2.10 −0.71 2.88
    Pakistan 11.82 −3.36 −16.33 18.89 −16.76 29.16 −4.31
    United States −3.23 −0.56 2.43 1.27 1.71 −0.53 3.71
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 9: Group Similar Data and Increase White Space

    In this rule, you want to make sure to group similar categories to make parsing the table easier. We can also increase white space, or even remove repeats to increase the data-to-ink ratio.

    rule9_data <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(Country %in% country_sel[-5], year %in% c(2015, 2016),
         crop %in% c("wheat", "potatoes", "rice", "soybeans"),
         !is.na(yield)) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = yield) %>% 
  rowwise() %>% 
  mutate(crop = str_to_title(crop),
         pct_change = (`2016`/`2015`-1)*100) %>%
  group_by(Country) %>% 
  arrange(desc(`2015`)) %>% 
  ungroup()

    9. Bad Example

    Here we can see the table is a bit hard to follow with the Country labels not being grouped.

    Rule 9 | Bad example gt code 
    rule9_bad <- rule9_data %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = vars(`2015`, `2016`, pct_change)
  ) %>% 
  tab_spanner(columns = vars(`2015`, `2016`),
              label = md("**Yield in Tonnes/Hectare**")) %>%  
  cols_width(
    vars(crop) ~ px(125),
    vars(`2015`, `2016`, pct_change) ~ 100
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule9_bad
    Country crop Yield in Tonnes/Hectare pct_change
    2015 2016
    United States Potatoes 46.90 48.64 3.71
    Pakistan Potatoes 23.44 22.43 −4.31
    India Potatoes 23.13 20.51 −11.32
    Indonesia Potatoes 18.20 18.25 0.29
    China Potatoes 17.27 17.69 2.42
    United States Rice 8.37 8.11 −3.11
    China Rice 6.89 6.86 −0.44
    China Wheat 5.39 5.40 0.07
    Indonesia Rice 5.34 5.24 −1.97
    Pakistan Rice 3.72 3.77 1.28
    India Rice 3.61 3.79 5.06
    United States Soybeans 3.23 3.49 8.20
    United States Wheat 2.93 3.54 20.85
    India Wheat 2.75 3.03 10.34
    Pakistan Wheat 2.73 2.78 1.96
    China Soybeans 1.81 1.80 −0.46
    Indonesia Soybeans 1.57 1.49 −5.04
    India Soybeans 0.73 1.18 60.27
    Pakistan Soybeans 0.54 0.85 58.61
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    9. gt native grouping

    gt provides row group levels that we can use to separate by Country.

    Rule 9 | Groups gt code 
    rule9_grp <- rule9_data %>% 
  gt(groupname_col = "Country") %>% 
  tab_stubhead("label") %>% 
  tab_options(
    table.width = px(300)
  ) %>% 
  cols_label(
    crop = "",
    pct_change = md("Percent<br>Change")
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = vars(`2015`, `2016`, pct_change)
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", weight = "bold"),
    locations = list(
      cells_row_groups(),
      cells_column_labels(everything())
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_spanner(columns = vars(`2015`, `2016`),
              label = md("**Yield in Tonnes/Hectare**")) %>%  
  cols_width(
    vars(crop) ~ px(125),
    vars(`2015`, `2016`, pct_change) ~ 100
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    row_group.border.top.width = px(3),
    row_group.border.top.color = "black",
    row_group.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.top.color = "white",
    table.border.top.width = px(3),
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width = px(2)
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule9_grp
    Yield in Tonnes/Hectare Percent
    Change
    2015 2016
    United States
    Potatoes 46.90 48.64 3.71
    Rice 8.37 8.11 −3.11
    Soybeans 3.23 3.49 8.20
    Wheat 2.93 3.54 20.85
    Pakistan
    Potatoes 23.44 22.43 −4.31
    Rice 3.72 3.77 1.28
    Wheat 2.73 2.78 1.96
    Soybeans 0.54 0.85 58.61
    India
    Potatoes 23.13 20.51 −11.32
    Rice 3.61 3.79 5.06
    Wheat 2.75 3.03 10.34
    Soybeans 0.73 1.18 60.27
    Indonesia
    Potatoes 18.20 18.25 0.29
    Rice 5.34 5.24 −1.97
    Soybeans 1.57 1.49 −5.04
    China
    Potatoes 17.27 17.69 2.42
    Rice 6.89 6.86 −0.44
    Wheat 5.39 5.40 0.07
    Soybeans 1.81 1.80 −0.46
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    9. Remove duplicate data

    Alternatively, we can remove some observations to create more white space, similar to Jon’s example. Here we are relying purely on white space rather than horizontal dividers. We can use gt::text_transform() to keep all the observations from our data in, but not display the repeats of Country in the gt table.

    Rule 9 | Group example gt code 
    rule9_dup <- rule9_data %>% 
  arrange(Country) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  cols_label(
    Country = "",
    crop = "Crop",
    pct_change = md("Percent<br>Change")
  ) %>% 
  tab_spanner(columns = vars(`2015`, `2016`),
              label = md("**Yield in Tonnes/Hectare**")) %>% 
  fmt_number(
    columns = vars(`2015`, `2016`, pct_change)
  ) %>% 
  text_transform(
    locations = cells_body(
      columns = vars(Country),
      rows = crop != "Potatoes"
    ),
    fn = function(x){
      paste0("")
    }
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", weight = "bold"),
    locations = list(
      cells_row_groups(),
      cells_column_labels(everything())
    )
  ) %>% 
  cols_width(
    vars(Country, crop) ~ px(125),
    vars(`2015`, `2016`, pct_change) ~ 100
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width = px(2),
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.top.color = "white",
    table.border.top.width = px(3),
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3),
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule9_dup
    Crop Yield in Tonnes/Hectare Percent
    Change
    2015 2016
    China Potatoes 17.27 17.69 2.42
    Rice 6.89 6.86 −0.44
    Wheat 5.39 5.40 0.07
    Soybeans 1.81 1.80 −0.46
    India Potatoes 23.13 20.51 −11.32
    Rice 3.61 3.79 5.06
    Wheat 2.75 3.03 10.34
    Soybeans 0.73 1.18 60.27
    Indonesia Potatoes 18.20 18.25 0.29
    Rice 5.34 5.24 −1.97
    Soybeans 1.57 1.49 −5.04
    Pakistan Potatoes 23.44 22.43 −4.31
    Rice 3.72 3.77 1.28
    Wheat 2.73 2.78 1.96
    Soybeans 0.54 0.85 58.61
    United States Potatoes 46.90 48.64 3.71
    Rice 8.37 8.11 −3.11
    Soybeans 3.23 3.49 8.20
    Wheat 2.93 3.54 20.85
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 10: Add visualizations When Appropriate

    While data viz and tables are different tools, you can combine them in clever ways to further engage the reader. Embedded data viz can reveal trends, while the table itself shows the raw data for lookup.

    rule10_data <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(
    year %in% c(2013,2017), 
    crop == "potatoes", 
    Country %in% c(
      country_sel, "Germany", "Brazil", "Ireland", "Lebanon", "Italy", 
      "Netherlands", "France", "Denmark", "El Salvador", "Denmark"
      )
    ) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = yield)

    10. Sparklines

    For example one we can use sparklines to indicate trends across time. There’s quite a bit of code below, and we actually use two datasets. Since we are creating the sparklines outside of gt make sure to align the graphs + data as gt doesn’t control the overall relationship. For example, if you arrange() by a specific column you’ll need to make sure to do it across both datasets.

    Rule 10 | Sparkline example gt code 
    plot_spark <- function(data){
  data %>% 
    mutate(
      yield_start = if_else(year == 2013, yield, NA_real_),
      yield_end = if_else(year == 2017, yield, NA_real_)
    ) %>% 
    tidyr::fill(yield_start, yield_end, .direction = "downup") %>% 
    mutate(color = if_else(yield_end-yield_start < 0, "red", "blue")) %>% 
    ggplot(aes(x = year, y = yield, color = color)) +
    geom_line(size = 15) +
    theme_void() +
    scale_color_identity() +
    theme(legend.position = "none")
}

# SPARKLINE

yield_plots <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(
    year %in% c(2013:2017), 
    crop == "potatoes", 
    Country %in% c(
      country_sel, "Germany", "Brazil", "Ireland", "Lebanon", "Italy", 
      "Netherlands", "France", "Denmark", "El Salvador", "Denmark"
    )
  ) %>% 
  nest(yields = c(year, yield)) %>% 
  mutate(plot = map(yields, plot_spark))

# SPARKLINES PLOT

rule10_spark <- rule10_data %>% 
  mutate(ggplot = NA) %>% 
  select(-crop) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  text_transform(
    locations = cells_body(vars(ggplot)),
    fn = function(x){
      map(yield_plots$plot, ggplot_image, height = px(15), aspect_ratio = 4)
    }
  ) %>% 
  cols_width(vars(ggplot) ~ px(100)) %>% 
  cols_label(
    ggplot = "2013-2017"
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(2:3) %>% 
  tab_spanner(
    label = "Potato Yield in Tonnes/Hectare",
    columns = c(2,3)
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", weight = "bold"),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_spanners(everything()),
      cells_column_labels(everything())
    )
  ) %>%  
  tab_options(
    row_group.border.top.width = px(3),
    row_group.border.top.color = "black",
    row_group.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.top.color = "white",
    table.border.top.width = px(3),
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width = px(2),
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule10_spark
    Country Potato Yield in Tonnes/Hectare 2013-2017
    2013 2017
    Brazil 27.75 30.94
    China 17.09 18.21
    Denmark 41.57 43.68
    El Salvador 42.60 29.22
    France 43.16 44.05
    Germany 39.83 46.79
    India 22.76 22.31
    Indonesia 16.02 15.40
    Ireland 38.33 44.83
    Italy 25.25 27.73
    Lebanon 26.08 25.14
    Mexico 26.78 28.95
    Netherlands 42.21 45.97
    Pakistan 21.81 21.45
    United States 46.36 48.39
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    10. Barplot

    For this example we can use barplots to indicate the average across the 5 years. Note that rather than building a ggplot for each of the rows, we can take some influence from the formattable R package and create a bar with just HTML/CSS! There’s quite a bit of code below, but note that the gt package requires you to parse the HTML with gt::html(). Overall this method is “cleaner” than via ggplot as you are mutating columns within the same dataset, and it’s much faster since you are just parsing HTML rather than creating, saving, and importing several ggplot images.

    Many thanks to the formattable author Renkun Kun and others like rtjohnson12 who have shown examples about how to build up a bar chart with HTML! Thanks also to Christophe Dervieux for a great example of gt + custom HTML on RStudio Community.

    Rule 10 | Barplot example gt code 
    # Example of using glue to just paste the value into pre-created HTML block
# Example adapted from rtjohnson12 at: 
# https://github.com/renkun-ken/formattable/issues/79#issuecomment-573165954

bar_chart <- function(value, color = "red", display_value = NULL){
  
  # Choose to display percent of total
  if (is.null(display_value)) {
    display_value <- "&nbsp;"
  } else {
    display_value <- display_value
  }
  
  # paste color and value into the html string
  glue::glue("<span style=\"display: inline-block; direction: ltr; border-radius: 4px; padding-right: 2px; background-color: {color}; color: {color}; width: {value}%\"> {display_value} </span>")
}

# create a color palette w/ paletteer
# note you could just pass a single color directly to the bar_chart function
col_pal <- function(value){
  
  # set high and low
  domain_range <- range(c(rule10_data$`2013`, rule10_data$`2017`))
  
  # create the color based of domain
  scales::col_numeric(
    paletteer::paletteer_d("ggsci::blue_material") %>% as.character(), 
    domain = c(min(value), max(value))
      )(value)
}

# BARPLOT

bar_yields <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(
    year %in% c(2013:2017), 
    crop == "potatoes", 
    Country %in% c(
      country_sel, "Germany", "Brazil", "Ireland", "Lebanon", "Italy", 
      "Netherlands", "France", "Denmark", "El Salvador", "Denmark"
      )
    ) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = yield) %>%  
  select(-crop) %>% 
  rowwise() %>% 
  mutate(
    mean = mean(c(`2013`, `2014`, `2015`, `2016`, `2017`))
    ) %>% 
  ungroup() %>% 
  select(Country, `2013`, `2017`, `mean`) %>% 
  mutate(
    bar = round(mean/max(mean)*100, digits = 2),
    color = col_pal(bar),
    bar_chart = bar_chart(bar, color = color),
    bar_chart = map(bar_chart, ~gt::html(as.character(.x)))) %>% 
  select(-bar, -color)
  
# BARPLOT

rule10_bar <- bar_yields %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  cols_width(vars(bar_chart) ~ px(100),
             vars(`2013`) ~ px(75),
             vars(`2017`) ~ px(75)
             ) %>% 
  cols_label(
    mean = md("Average<br>2013-17"),
    bar_chart = ""
  ) %>% 
  cols_align(
    align = "right",
    columns = 2:4
  ) %>% 
  cols_align(
    align = "left",
    columns = vars(bar_chart)
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(2:4) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", weight = "bold"),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_labels(everything())
    )
  ) %>%  
  tab_options(
    row_group.border.top.width = px(3),
    row_group.border.top.color = "black",
    row_group.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.top.color = "white",
    table.border.top.width = px(3),
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3),
    table_body.border.bottom.width = px(2),
    table_body.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width = px(3)
  ) %>% 
  tab_footnote(footnote = "Potato Yield in Tonnes per Hectare",
               locations = cells_column_labels(
                 columns =2:4
               )) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule10_bar
    Country 20131 20171 Average
    2013-171
    Brazil 27.75 30.94 29.12  
    China 17.09 18.21 17.48  
    Denmark 41.57 43.68 42.45  
    El Salvador 42.60 29.22 29.92  
    France 43.16 44.05 43.30  
    Germany 39.83 46.79 44.45  
    India 22.76 22.31 22.32  
    Indonesia 16.02 15.40 17.11  
    Ireland 38.33 44.83 40.99  
    Italy 25.25 27.73 26.93  
    Lebanon 26.08 25.14 25.27  
    Mexico 26.78 28.95 27.63  
    Netherlands 42.21 45.97 43.71  
    Pakistan 21.81 21.45 21.46  
    United States 46.36 48.39 47.49  
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish
    1 Potato Yield in Tonnes per Hectare

    10. Heatmap

    Lastly, you can add colors across the entire plot itself to show trends across the data over time and across country.

    Rule 10 | Heatmap example gt code 
    rule10_wide <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(
    year %in% c(2013:2017), 
    crop == "potatoes", 
    Country %in% c(
      country_sel, "Germany", "Brazil", "Ireland", "Lebanon", "Italy", 
      "Netherlands", "France", "Denmark", "El Salvador", "Denmark"
    )
  ) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = yield)

rule10_heat <- rule10_wide %>% 
  arrange(desc(`2013`)) %>% 
  select(-crop) %>% 
  gt() %>% 
  data_color(
    columns = 2:6, 
    colors = scales::col_numeric(
      palette = paletteer::paletteer_d(
        palette = "ggsci::blue_material"
      ) %>% as.character(),
      domain = NULL
    )
  ) %>% 
  fmt_number(2:6) %>% 
  tab_spanner(
    label = "Potato Yield in Tonnes/Hectare",
    columns = c(2:6)
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", weight = "bold"),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_spanners(everything()),
      cells_column_labels(everything())
    )
  ) %>%  
  cols_width(
    1 ~ px(125),
    2:6 ~ px(65)
  ) %>% 
  tab_options(
    row_group.border.top.width = px(3),
    row_group.border.top.color = "black",
    row_group.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.top.color = "white",
    table.border.top.width = px(3),
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width = px(2),
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    rule10_heat
    Country Potato Yield in Tonnes/Hectare
    2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
    United States 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64 48.39
    France 43.16 47.98 42.51 38.83 44.05
    El Salvador 42.60 26.25 26.01 25.54 29.22
    Netherlands 42.21 45.66 42.73 42.00 45.97
    Denmark 41.57 43.12 41.41 42.48 43.68
    Germany 39.83 47.42 43.81 44.40 46.79
    Ireland 38.33 40.32 42.36 39.11 44.83
    Brazil 27.75 27.94 29.32 29.66 30.94
    Mexico 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93 28.95
    Lebanon 26.08 25.23 24.82 25.07 25.14
    Italy 25.25 26.08 27.16 28.44 27.73
    India 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51 22.31
    Pakistan 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43 21.45
    China 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69 18.21
    Indonesia 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25 15.40
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    10. Percent Change

    Ok I lied! One more example, with color for a numeric column.

    Rule 10 | Percent change example gt code 
    rule10_wide <- yield_data %>% 
  filter(
    year %in% c(2013:2017), 
    crop == "potatoes", 
    Country %in% c(
      country_sel, "Germany", "Brazil", "Ireland", "Lebanon", "Italy", 
      "Netherlands", "France", "Denmark", "El Salvador", "Denmark"
    )
  ) %>% 
  pivot_wider(names_from = year, values_from = yield)

rule10_pct <- rule10_wide %>% 
  arrange(Country) %>% 
  select(-crop) %>% 
  mutate(pct_change = (`2017`/`2013`-1)*100) %>% 
  gt()%>% 
  fmt_number(2:7) %>% 
  cols_label(
    pct_change = md("Percent Change")
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(color = "red")
    ),
    locations = cells_body(
      columns = vars(pct_change),
      rows = pct_change <= 0
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = list(
      cell_text(color = "blue")
    ),
    locations = cells_body(
      columns = vars(pct_change),
      rows = pct_change > 0
    )
  ) %>% 
  tab_spanner(
    label = "Potato Yield in Tonnes/Hectare",
    columns = c(2:6)
  ) %>% 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(color = "black", weight = "bold"),
    locations = list(
      cells_column_spanners(everything()),
      cells_column_labels(everything())
    )
  ) %>%  
  tab_options(
    row_group.border.top.width = px(3),
    row_group.border.top.color = "black",
    row_group.border.bottom.color = "black",
    table_body.hlines.color = "white",
    table.border.top.color = "white",
    table.border.top.width = px(3),
    table.border.bottom.color = "white",
    table.border.bottom.width = px(3),
    column_labels.border.bottom.color = "black",
    column_labels.border.bottom.width = px(2),
  ) %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish"))
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    rule10_pct
    Country Potato Yield in Tonnes/Hectare Percent Change
    2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
    Brazil 27.75 27.94 29.32 29.66 30.94 11.49
    China 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69 18.21 6.54
    Denmark 41.57 43.12 41.41 42.48 43.68 5.07
    El Salvador 42.60 26.25 26.01 25.54 29.22 −31.41
    France 43.16 47.98 42.51 38.83 44.05 2.06
    Germany 39.83 47.42 43.81 44.40 46.79 17.48
    India 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51 22.31 −2.00
    Indonesia 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25 15.40 −3.83
    Ireland 38.33 40.32 42.36 39.11 44.83 16.96
    Italy 25.25 26.08 27.16 28.44 27.73 9.83
    Lebanon 26.08 25.23 24.82 25.07 25.14 −3.60
    Mexico 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93 28.95 8.12
    Netherlands 42.21 45.66 42.73 42.00 45.97 8.92
    Pakistan 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43 21.45 −1.63
    United States 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64 48.39 4.38
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Rule 11: Add Context to the Table

    I’ll add one more guideline of my own! We’ve been playing fairly fast and loose with not naming many of the tables and not providing all the context about even what’s in the table, mostly because we’re more concerned with showing curated and specific examples. However, naming and adding context to the table is important. This can be accomplished many different ways with gt.

    Add a title

    Going back to our first table - let’s tell the reader what the actual data is!

    rule1_good %>% 
  tab_header(
    title = md("**Potato yields in 6 major countries**"),
    subtitle = "Yield in Tonnes/Hectare"
    ) %>% 
  tab_options(heading.align = "left",
              table.border.top.color = "white",
              table.border.top.width = px(3))
    Potato yields in 6 major countries
    Yield in Tonnes/Hectare
    Country 2013 2014 2015 2016
    China 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69
    India 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51
    Indonesia 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25
    Mexico 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93
    Pakistan 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43
    United States 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish

    Redo an example

    Going a bit further into our rule 10 examples, while we added some nice color - we could further clarify the percent change, was it the sum of changes? Change from specific years? It was just the change from 2013 vs 2017.

    rule10_pct %>% 
  tab_footnote(
    "Percent Change: 2013 vs 2017",
    locations = cells_column_labels(7)
  )
    Country Potato Yield in Tonnes/Hectare Percent Change1
    2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
    Brazil 27.75 27.94 29.32 29.66 30.94 11.49
    China 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69 18.21 6.54
    Denmark 41.57 43.12 41.41 42.48 43.68 5.07
    El Salvador 42.60 26.25 26.01 25.54 29.22 −31.41
    France 43.16 47.98 42.51 38.83 44.05 2.06
    Germany 39.83 47.42 43.81 44.40 46.79 17.48
    India 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51 22.31 −2.00
    Indonesia 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25 15.40 −3.83
    Ireland 38.33 40.32 42.36 39.11 44.83 16.96
    Italy 25.25 26.08 27.16 28.44 27.73 9.83
    Lebanon 26.08 25.23 24.82 25.07 25.14 −3.60
    Mexico 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93 28.95 8.12
    Netherlands 42.21 45.66 42.73 42.00 45.97 8.92
    Pakistan 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43 21.45 −1.63
    United States 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64 48.39 4.38
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish
    1 Percent Change: 2013 vs 2017

    What about our lovely table that had both column and row summaries? We renamed our column summaries to just Avg. and Avg. - we can assume that the reader understands it is the summary of the columns to their immediate left, but it can be helpful to also explicitly tell the reader what the calculation is. What if the second Avg. was in fact the average from all years (2007 to 2016), rather than just 2012 through 2016?

    rule2_tab2 %>% 
  tab_source_note(md("**Table**: @thomas_mock | **Data**: OurWorldInData.org<br>**Inspiration**: @jschwabish")) %>% 
  tab_footnote(
    footnote = "Average of 2007 through 2011",
    locations = cells_column_labels(vars(avg_07_11))
  ) %>% 
  tab_footnote(
    footnote = "Average of 2012 through 2016",
    locations = cells_column_labels(vars(avg_12_16))
  ) 
    Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead

Warning: `columns = vars(...)` has been deprecated in gt 0.3.0:
* please use `columns = c(...)` instead
    Country 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Avg.1 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Avg.2
    China 14.63 15.18 14.42 15.67 16.28 15.13 16.77 17.09 17.14 17.27 17.69 16.77
    India 16.41 19.30 18.81 19.93 22.72 19.41 21.75 22.76 22.92 23.13 20.51 21.25
    Indonesia 16.09 16.67 16.51 15.94 15.96 16.09 16.58 16.02 17.67 18.20 18.25 17.08
    Mexico 27.06 27.73 27.74 27.76 26.27 27.06 26.81 26.78 27.34 27.14 27.93 27.31
    Pakistan 19.35 16.46 20.28 22.68 21.92 20.35 18.34 21.81 18.15 23.44 22.43 20.34
    United States 44.43 44.44 46.44 44.94 44.69 44.43 45.78 46.36 47.15 46.90 48.64 46.78
    Average 23.00 23.29 24.03 24.49 24.64 23.75 24.34 25.13 25.06 26.01 25.91 24.92
    Table: @thomas_mock | Data: OurWorldInData.org
    Inspiration: @jschwabish
    1 Average of 2007 through 2011
    2 Average of 2012 through 2016

    So that’s it for now - thanks for reading through and if you have more needs make sure to check out the gt site.

    ─ Session info ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 setting  value
 version  R version 4.2.0 (2022-04-22)
 os       macOS Monterey 12.2.1
 system   aarch64, darwin20
 ui       X11
 language (EN)
 collate  en_US.UTF-8
 ctype    en_US.UTF-8
 tz       America/Chicago
 date     2022-05-03
 pandoc   2.18 @ /Applications/RStudio.app/Contents/MacOS/quarto/bin/tools/ (via rmarkdown)
 quarto   0.9.294 @ /usr/local/bin/quarto

─ Packages ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 package     * version    date (UTC) lib source
 dplyr       * 1.0.8      2022-02-08 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 forcats     * 0.5.1      2021-01-27 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 ggplot2     * 3.3.5      2021-06-25 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 gt          * 0.5.0.9000 2022-04-27 [1] Github (rstudio/gt@0d4c83d)
 purrr       * 0.3.4      2020-04-17 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 readr       * 2.1.2      2022-01-30 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 sessioninfo * 1.2.2      2021-12-06 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 stringr     * 1.4.0      2019-02-10 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 tibble      * 3.1.6      2021-11-07 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 tidyr       * 1.2.0      2022-02-01 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)
 tidyverse   * 1.3.1      2021-04-15 [1] CRAN (R 4.2.0)

 [1] /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.2-arm64/Resources/library

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