Table guidelines for Statistics New Zealand

Transcription

1 Table guidelines for Statistics New Zealand

2 Crown copyright This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to copy, distribute, and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the work to Statistics NZ and abide by the other licence terms. Please note you may not use any departmental or governmental emblem, logo, or coat of arms in any way that infringes any provision of the Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act Use the wording Statistics New Zealand in your attribution, not the Statistics NZ logo. Liability While all care and diligence has been used in processing, analysing, and extracting data and information in this publication, Statistics New Zealand gives no warranty it is error free and will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by the use directly, or indirectly, of the information in this publication. Citation Statistics New Zealand (2016). Table guidelines for Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved from ISBN (online) Published in February 2016 by Statistics New Zealand Tatauranga Aotearoa Wellington, New Zealand Contact Statistics New Zealand Information Centre: Phone toll-free Phone international

3 Contents List of figures About the table guidelines... 5 When to use a table... 5 Appropriate format... 5 Accuracy and appropriateness... 5 Clarity and consistency... 5 Individualised subscription files What s new CSV (comma-separated values) files... 8 About CSV files... 8 How to create a CSV table... 8 Filenames and display name... 8 Layout... 9 Metadata Style Excel tables Contents lists Examples of Excel tables Data Font 15 Footnotes, notes, and symbols Headings Layout Source of data Table number Table title and subtitles Tabs at bottom of Excel sheet Series references Web tables E-government web standards Example of Sitecore table Available styles

4 List of figures 1 CSV file opened in Excel Extract of CSV file opened in Notepad Contents page for Excel file Example table in Excel Excel table with shaded spanner headings Statistics New Zealand s web-safe colour palette Table on webpage created in HTML

5 1 About the table guidelines Table guidelines for Statistics New Zealand support Statistics New Zealand s Methodological standard for Tables, which is part of the Standards and Guidance Framework (available on our intranet). When to use a table A table is a structured way of organising and displaying information and showing relationships between categories, groups, time, and values. Use a table if you need to: display individual values compare individual values give precise values, or use more than one unit of measure in your data. Appropriate format Consider the most appropriate format for different customer-needs. Current options include: NZ.Stat and Infoshare, our current data stores for large datasets and time series data customers can create customised tables, access metadata, and download as Excel or CSV (comma-separated values) CSV machine readable files that customers import into their own templates Excel people readable files with summary data HTML on our website or Word in PDF for simple display tables with no more than about five columns or rows of data. Accuracy and appropriateness Tables should be: structured appropriately to show the relationships between the categories, groups, time, or values peer-reviewed when created, to check for accuracy regularly reviewed to ensure appropriate data is included (this applies particularly to tables produced for regular releases) appropriate for the intended audience formatted appropriately for the medium of publication. Clarity and consistency Tables should: be clearly legible and structured so readers can easily find what they need from the table and compare related information have as little clutter or repetition as possible 5

6 be formatted so they use minimum ink when printed, but not at the expense of clarity be as self-contained as possible (further explanation of data may be included in associated technical notes if necessary) follow consistent title, heading, and labelling styles within a particular mode of publication comply with the styles for text and punctuation outlined in the Style manual for Statistics New Zealand use plain English wherever possible and contain very little specialised language or jargon comply with Statistics NZ branding comply with e-government web standards where appropriate ( Individualised subscription files Excel files sent in response to individual requests or as subscription data should comply with the principles of the standard outline in this chapter. However, they do not have to fully comply with the guidelines for Excel tables. 6

7 2 What s new We updated our 2010 table guidelines in response to feedback from customers about their need to import data easily into their own systems. We suggest analysts apply the changes outlined here when they create new tables, or new templates for their regular tables. Here is a summary of the main changes in style. Empty columns Footnotes Do not use an empty ( dummy ) column for the sake of formatting and appearance. Keep footnote marker and text in the same cell column. Headers and footers Do not include a header or footer in Excel workbooks. The information they contained is more useful in the contents page of the tables. Move away from print Do not worry as much about how the Excel table looks printed on an A4 page. However, if you need to print a large Excel worksheet, see how to print row and column headings on every printed page. 7

8 3 CSV (comma-separated values) files Guidelines for tables saved in CSV format include: About CSV files How to create a CSV table Filenames and display names Layout Metadata Style About CSV files CSV stands for comma-separated values. CSV files are text files with information separated by commas, saved with the extension.csv. You can open a CSV file with any spreadsheet, statistics, or analysis program, such as Microsoft Excel, the R statistical environment, or Python. They allow large amounts of detailed data to be transferred machine-to-machine, with little or no reformatting by the user. They differ from other spreadsheet file types in that: you can only have a single sheet in a file they cannot save cell, column, or row styling they cannot save formulas. Accessibility By providing CSV files, we comply with the Declaration on Open and Transparent Government requirements for data releases, which state data must be: openly licensed under Creative Commons licenses, preferably CC-BY released in machine readable, open formats like.csv and using APIs. How to create a CSV table Generate your CSV file directly from your dataset. Do not save an Excel table as a CSV file, as the Excel table has probably been formatted to look good and tell a story, by aggregating data, and combining rows. You do not need, or want, this extra detail in a CSV file. Remember: Less is more: make columns of data and limit the number of variables per file if you have a lot of data. You can bundle multiple files to package a number of variables about a topic if you need to. Focus on the data do not include metadata in the CSV file (ie table of contents, header, footer, table title, footnotes, notes, or information about where the data was published). Filenames and display name Follow Statistics NZ s file-naming conventions for the filename and the display name on the webpage. 8

9 Filename Make file names concise, meaningful, and distinctive; use lower case; hyphens to replace spaces; abbreviate; include time period. Aim for no more than 28 characters. Add csv in the filename (as well as using the.csv extension) to differentiate from any file of same content in Excel format. (Our content management system, Sitecore, requires unique filenames it doesn t take the extension into account.) For example: bopiip-sep14qtr-alltabs-csv.csv river-condition-2014-csv.csv. Display name in downloads box Use the full name of the file in the display name on the webpage or in the downloads box. Add the type of file in the filename, if the webpage also has Excel files of those tables, but also add the file type in brackets after the link. If the file size is less than 1kB, you can round the size of the file to 1kB: Balance of Payments Investment Position: September 2014 quarter CSV table (CSV, 1 sheet, 1kB) River condition 2014 table (CSV, 1 sheet, 1kB). File size If you have more than one CSV file for the data, zip them into one file, but let the customer know how many separate CSV files there are: Balance of Payments Investment Position: September 2014 quarter CSV tables (WinZip, 5 CSV files, 666kB) River condition 2014 tables (WinZip, 2 CSV files, 204kB). Layout Label each column in concise, descriptive, plain English. Do not use bold, italics, or centre alignment. Don t include any more text than is necessary. Aim for one row of column labels. Make one column of data and limit the number of variables per file if you have a lot of data. You can zip multiple files to package a number of variables about a topic, or compress very large files. To accommodate customers who use our data in tools like MS-Access, keep the labels as one piece either one word or words linked by an underscore. See figure 1 for the examples: Series_reference and Data_value. Do not use commas and other punctuation in cells. If it s essential to have punctuation, for example in an address like Edmund Road, Rotorua, enclose cell content with double quote marks < > so the punctuation doesn t get read as a data separator. Note: If you create CSV files directly from TSM, the quote marks are automatically added round content that contains a comma (see figure 2). Start the data in row 2. If your file differs from this standard, make this clear in your metadata file. 9

10 Place each piece of data in a single row with all its identifying information, and use the same order of information in each row, so data is in a single column. Metadata Machines don t read metadata, so don t include a table of contents, headers, footers, table title, footnotes, notes, or information about where the data was published. Place relevant notes and metadata (titles, footnotes, data quality issues etc) on the webpage that makes the CSV file available. Supply metadata in a separate document if required. Style CSV files do not save styles. Text formatting is limited to column/row headings and file names. Figure 1 shows the layout of a CSV file from Balance of Payments and International Investment Position: September 2014 quarter that has been opened in Excel. This example shows how information about each piece of data is placed in same row as the data Variables run on from each other in a continuous vertical list (ordered alpha-numerically), with each variable (eg by date) in a separate row. Supporting information about each piece of data is placed in each row in consistent positions (columns). While this means a lot of repetition in the data labelling, it doesn t matter to the machine reading it, and allows the data to be in one column essential for machine reading. Figure 1 1 CSV file opened in Excel CSV file opened in Excel Note that when you open a CSV file in Excel, you can t see the quote marks that have been put round the text that contains commas. To do test if the commas are there, save the CSV file on your desktop, open Notepad, then open the file in Notepad. See figure 2, with extract of the CSV file shown in figure 1. Figure 2 shows part of a CSV file opened in Notepad, to illustrate the quote marks applied to comma separated text. Figure 2 2 Extract of CSV file opened in Notepad Extract of CSV file opened in Notepad. 10

11 4 Excel tables Use these guidelines for Excel tables, available as downloadable files from our website: Contents list Data Font Footnotes, notes, and symbols Headings Layout Contents lists Include a list of tables on the first sheet of the Excel workbook if there is more than one table in the workbook (see figure 3). Put table numbers in column 1. Apply formatting Right aligned, indent 1 so the numbers aren t too close to the table name. Type the name of the table in column 2. Use only the title and first subtitle (heading 2) in the list of tables, separated by a comma. Only include the third level if it is needed to differentiate tables with the same title and first subtitle (heading 2). Link the title to relevant worksheet tab: Expand column 2 so the title of the table is in one cell, so that the link to the tab works across all the words in the title. Do not use abbreviations in the title. Select relevant information from below to add at the bottom of the contents worksheet: Machine-readable zipped CSV file A machine-readable CSV file is also available from the Downloads box. Access more data on NZ.Stat Use NZ.Stat, a free web tool, to create time-series tables by selecting the variables you want. NZ.Stat ( To access time-series data on NZ.Stat, select Incomes from the left-hand side dropdown menu. More information about NZ.Stat ( Access more data on Infoshare Use Infoshare, a free online database, to access a range of time-series data specific to your needs. Webpage: Subject category: Include it here Survey name: Include it here Related survey: Include here, if relevant 11

12 Add the following text: Customised data Contact us for information and quotes for customised data Phone: (toll-free) Next release Name of release: time period will be released on date Month year. Published by Statistics New Zealand Date Month year Figure 3 3 Contents page for Excel file Contents page for Excel file 12

13 Examples of Excel tables See figures 4 and 5, and the Excel file available for download from the website, for examples of Excel tables. Figure 4 4 Example table in Excel Example table in Excel 13

14 Figure 5 5 Excel table with shaded spanner headings Excel table with shaded spanner headings Data Do not put data in merged cells. Do not leave a data cell blank. If data is not available, use the appropriate symbol (see Symbols ). For a count of zero, use the numeral 0. Use comma separators for numbers greater than and including 1,000, except for index numbers. Right-align data with indent 1 space. Bottom align data, unless row heading is wrapped, then top align, so data lines up with the top of the wrapped heading. If label goes over two lines, align data to the top row. Use a consistent number of decimal places in a table for data expressed in the same way. For instance, while indexes could be to no decimal places, all percentage changes should be to the same decimal place (say one, or two). Align data under the decimal points. Clearly state the unit of measurement for data in the table title, column headings, or the body of the table. 14

15 Spell out percent in the body of the table, unless space is an issue. If you need to use the symbol % be consistent within the table. Font Use Arial for Excel tables; and macrons for Māori words, where applicable. Use en dashes rather than hyphens in number ranges, unless space is extremely tight in a table. (To create in Word or Excel: hold the Alt key and type 0150 on the Num Lock key pad.) Use the following style and size for parts of the table. Table number 10pt, sentence case, left-aligned Title (heading 1) 10pt, sentence case, bold, left-aligned, bottom aligned Subtitle 2 and 3 10pt, sentence case, left-aligned, bottom aligned Box/spanner heading 8pt, sentence case, centred horizontally over selected data cells (do not merge the columns) and centred vertically Stub heading 8pt, sentence case, left-aligned and centred vertically Series ref heading 8pt, lower case, with colon, not italics: Series ref: RTN Row heading 8pt, sentence case, left-aligned and centred vertically Row sub-heading 8pt, sentence case, left-aligned and centred vertically Data 8pt, right-aligned, indented to appear centred within columns Footnote indicator(s) same font as text it relates to, use superscript in brackets Footnote(s) 8pt, sentence case, full stop after footnote number indicator (eg 1.) Colour Note heading 8pt, sentence case, bold Note text 8pt, sentence case Source heading 8pt, sentence case, bold Source text 8pt, sentence case Source text for title of publication use italics Source text for name of survey or dataset use plain, not italics: Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Source: OECD Factbook 2008 Source: Statistics New Zealand, NZ General Social Survey In general, do not use colour in tables. However, if colour is required, use the approved Statistics NZ colour palette for brand consistency across graphics (graphs and maps), text, and tables (see figure 6). They have been tested for visual accessibility. Background shading or fill can be used to highlight certain columns of data, for example the current year in the financial section of the Annual Report, or to highlight alternate rows of data to make them easier to read. Text and its background must meet e-government web guidelines where appropriate. In Excel, most tables use black text on a white background. More complex tables may also use black text on grey spanner headings. Use the second lightest grey option. 15

16 Use colours with hue level 1 from the web-safe colour palette as background shades in a table (see figure 6). Figure 6 6 Statistics New Zealand s web-safe colour palette Statistics New Zealand s web-safe colour palette Hue Yellow palette Green palette Blue palette Grey palette level #FFFFCC #CCCC66 #99CCCC #CCCCCC #FFCC33 # # # #CC9900 # # # # # # # Note: The first number in each palette is the RGB (red / green /blue) the second number, with a hash symbol, is the corresponding hex number. Footnotes, notes, and symbols Footnote indicator numbers Use superscript and brackets for footnote indicator numbers. Do not put a space between the last letter of the text and the footnote indicator. Place the footnote indicator number after the word(s) it most closely relates to and after any punctuation (except for a dash, which it precedes). Example: Births, deaths, (1) and marriages Example: Inputs (1) index numbers Make the font and style of the indicator number consistent with the level of heading. Adjust the row height to accommodate superscript footnote number. Keep the footnote indicator numbers sequential, reading from top left to bottom right (left to right, top to bottom), except where the same footnote number appears more than once within a table. In more complicated boxed spanner layouts where it s difficult to tell the order of footnotes, left to right takes precedence over top to bottom. 16

17 Footnote text Note Symbols Put footnotes at the end of the table, under the baseline, before Note, Symbols, and Source (see figure 4 for example). Use number with full stop 1. for footnote number and text below the table instead brackets around the footnote number. Left-align the footnote number to the left edge of the table. Do not leave a blank row between footnotes. Explain all abbreviations and acronyms able, as a footnote, or in a list after Note:. Put footnotes under each table they relate to. Use the word note in this context to call attention to something (as in take note! ), not as Here are some notes. Put text that is too long for one line on a new row, but do not start each sentence on a new row. Place the Note: under any footnotes and before any symbols and the Source: Left-align the note text. Put the note under every table it relates to. Use the following wording, where applicable (bold, with colon): Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not sum to stated totals. If a data cell does not contain data, use the appropriate symbol to clarify. To avoid clutter, do not use both.. ( figure not available ) and C (figure not available as data is Confidentialised). It is preferable to only use C, and place it in the data cell. Consider if status flags are really necessary. Customers have told us they don t like the dummy column required to add the symbol to the right of the data column. Symbol note Define any symbol(s) used in a table in a list at the bottom of the table. Put the symbol definitions after any footnotes or note. Use Symbol: or Symbols: as appropriate (bold, with colon) Only give definitions for symbols used in the table body, unless the tables are instantiated/automated and not able to be manually adjusted/corrected. Left-align to left edge of table, with the symbol and explanation in the same column. Use lower case for the explanation. If there is not enough room at the bottom of the table to list the symbols on separate rows, run the list across one line: Symbol: C confidential P provisional.. figure not available 17

18 Order of symbols List symbols alphabetically, as follows: C confidential E estimate P provisional R revised S suppressed -- amount too small to be expressed.. figure not available not applicable Use * if there is a symbol you need to create for a specific table (though it might be preferable to use a footnote instead). Acronyms and abbreviations Use acronyms and abbreviations sparingly. If they are used, explain in the footnotes, note, or in the table text. The exceptions are the following, which can be used in tables without footnotes: $ dollars 000 thousands million millions $(000) thousands of dollars $(million) millions of dollars % percent (if space is an issue) GST goods and services tax Spell out the following abbreviations below the table after Note: cif cost, insurance, and freight vfd value for duty fob free on board nfd not further defined nec not elsewhere classified nei not elsewhere included See Style manual for Statistics New Zealand for further details on the use of acronyms and abbreviations. Do not use full stops in abbreviations, with the exception of 'number' (no.) and business (bus.) to avoid confusion. Headings Column headings Use sentence case for column headings. Centre vertically and horizontally (apart from the stub heading, which is left-aligned). Avoid repeating information in adjacent column headings if it can be included in a box heading (eg the boxed column heading should say Age group (years) with rows below 0 15, 16 30, Do not repeat the word years in each row heading 0 15 years, years, years. Do not use bold for column headings. 18

19 Box or spanner heading A box heading spans more than one column. Use it to avoid repeating information in column headings; to group headings logically under the same time period, measurement, or variable; and to differentiate totals. Do not merge cells to make the content appear centred. Instead: o select the cells the content will span o right click to Format Cells o under Alignment, Text alignment, Horizontal, select Centre Across Selection ; and Vertical, select Center. Use sentence case. Use shaded spanner headings to highlight different categories or units. Use the second lightest grey option for Excel tables. Row headings Left-align row headings. Insert a blank row between categories or groups. Use bold in row headings, if necessary, to differentiate information. Classifications in tables Where possible, use sentence case for classifications used in tables, and add the extra comma in lists of three or more items to clarify the groupings. Layout Before uploading to website Make sure the downloadable table opens at the top left cell of the first table in the workbook. (To do this, place the cursor in the top left cell of each sheet before you close it, making sure the cursor is on the first page when you close the workbook). Use Excel s freeze pane function on long tables, so that at least one row and one column of data can be seen without the need to scroll. Borders Do not put border round the entire table. Use internal border lines as shown in figure 4. Columns Put a black border line below the last line of data in a table. In Excel, under the tab Page layout, Gridlines, tick View, but leave Print blank. Do not use an empty ( dummy ) column for the sake of formatting and appearance. Margins If you use these margins, the printed area will be 19cm wide, which is useful for customers who want to print the Excel table: top 1.6cm 19

20 header 0.5cm left 1cm right 1cm bottom 1.6cm footer 1cm. Rows Keep height for data rows as consistent as possible within one document (generally between 11 and 12). If necessary, increase heights for rows that have superscripts (aim for 12.75). Scaling Leave a blank row between groups of categories, if this makes it easier to read. Where possible, keep to 100 percent scaling. Consider scaling down to 90 percent if this makes the difference between the worksheet printing on one page instead of two. Source of data Include the source of the data at the bottom of every table. Left-align the source with the edge of the table, in 8 pt. Put the source at the bottom of the table, after the footnotes, note, and symbols. If all data in the table comes from one source, use the format: o Source: Statistics New Zealand o Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand If appropriate, include the name of the dataset (in title case, not italics) or specific publication (title case, italics) after the organisation s name. If there are multiple sources of data, use a footnote as well to indicate which data is sourced by someone other than Statistics New Zealand. Table number Put the table number, preceded by the word Table, in cell A1. Use sequential numbers for tables, following the order tables appear in the publication. If you have to introduce tables into an existing list, renumber all the tables. Do not use a system like 1, 2, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 4a etc. Table title and subtitles Include a title (and subtitles if necessary) with every table. Left-align titles and subtitles. The title (and any subtitles) should give clear and accurate description of the data, and answer the three questions what, where, and when. Use as few words as possible (ideally no more than 50 characters for the title, and 50 for a subtitle). 20

21 Use subtitles to break up long titles, add detail (including the time period, where applicable), differentiate tables with similar titles, or show base numbers and base periods for tables containing indexes. For most tables, one or two subtitles should provide enough information. If a table has more subtitles, consider combining two subtitles or putting some information in a note or footnote. Put the most important information first in a title. Make sure tables in the same publication have a unique title. Where possible, avoid using the same wording at the beginning of table titles in one publication. For instance, instead of: o Research and development employment numbers o Research and development business closures o Research and development enterprises, by size o Research and development enterprises, by location Rewrite so the point of difference about each table at the beginning of the title: o Employment numbers in research and development o Business closures in research and development enterprises o Size of research and development enterprises o Location of research and development enterprises. Use plain English. If possible, avoid abbreviations or acronyms (a few exceptions apply, eg GDP in a publication about gross domestic product). If abbreviations or acronyms have to be included, spell them out in a footnote. Use percent not % ; number not no. ; and not &. Time periods If relevant, include the time period in the table title or subtitle, usually as the lowest level subtitle: Use four numerals for the year, except in a span where the second year is in the same decade (for example ). Spans of years in different centuries are written Separate time spans by an en dash, not a hyphen, unless space in a table is very tight. Examples of time periods: June 2016 year June 2016 quarter Year ended June June quarter June quarter Quarter ended June Censuses At 31 June

22 Tabs at bottom of Excel sheet The usual style is to name them Table 1, Table 2, etc; though if there are many worksheets, consider removing Table and just use the table number. If there are not many worksheets, consider adding a key word after the table number, to help identify the contents of the table. Series references If appropriate, include series identifiers for rows or columns of data. Include time references, if appropriate. Use same font style and size as other headings do not use italics. When the series reference details are in a row, put the series data as close as possible to the descriptions it relates to (this is usually immediately below the descriptions). When the series reference details are in a column, left-align with indent. The series reference details will in general come above the unit. If the table has other spanner headings, representing different series, put the series reference row below the spanner row. 22

23 5 Web tables Here are the current styles we can use for tables created in HTML. E-government web standards Do not use an image of an Excel spreadsheet on the webpage, as it won t comply with accessibility standards unless you write a detailed description of the content. If you want to include a table directly on a web page, use the built-in styles in our content management system for an HTML table, see example in figure 7. The E-government web standards say that you make a table available in downloadable Excel format, you do not have to reproduce the content as HTML on the web page. We recommend you keep HTML tables small, say 5 7 rows and 4 6 columns. Example of Sitecore table We are currently limited by technology in the styles we can apply to our HTML tables, see example in figure 7. Figure 7 7 Table on webpage created in HTML Table on webpage created in HTML Median income and earnings measures June 2015 quarter Annual change ($) ($) (Percent) Median weekly income from all sources (1) Median weekly income from government transfers (2) Median weekly income from wages and salaries (2) Median hourly earnings For all people 2. For those receiving income from this source Source: Statistics New Zealand Available styles Title sentence case, bold, left-aligned First subtitle sentence case, left-aligned Second subtitle sentence case, left-aligned Headings in first column sentence case, left-aligned Headings in other columns sentence case, centred Data cells centred 23

24 Footnote indicators within table in brackets and superscript next to appropriate word Footnotes, notes, symbols, source sentence case, left-aligned, italics for any title of publication referred to in source, apply superscript font so it is smaller than normal font. Bold word Note and Source. Footnote numbering: Number followed by full stop (eg 1.) Borders Put titles, subtitles, notes, footnotes, symbol, and source information within HTML table cells. Until such time as we can specify which borders to show and which to hide, use borders on all cells. Page layout HTML tables must fit within navigation columns. Width dimensions should be set to no more than 100 percent in the table properties. The tables should ideally fit in a screen and not require vertical scrolling. There is no specific measurement for this as screen views vary; use your own screen as a guide. Do not use the table format in HTML for text only. Table numbers In general, use whole numbers for tables set in HTML in web-based reports and on web pages. If the report has downloadable tables as well as tables on individual web pages use a table numbering system that will not cause confusion. Titles and subtitles Place the title and subtitles of HTML tables in the first row of the table. This is so that if a table is copied, the title will also be copied as part of the table s content. 24