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I know Apple has certain minimum sizes for things like font no smaller than 13pt. I was wondering if they had a spec (maybe in their HIG) for minimum table view height. I have a design with a short table view and I just want to make sure it's within the recommended size. I imagine the absolute limit would be no smaller than 44pt (minimal tappable area) or 2x that.

Note: This is in regards to the whole table view not the individual cells. The cells are tappable so I assume a height of 44pt for each cell.

Example: Apple has a table view showing people in the first pic less than the full height of the subview. What might be the minimum height for such a table view be and still be usable?

enter image description here

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As a user I like to have at least 2 and a half rows, it is easily scrollable and you can note that it is a list, and not only 1 or 2 records. – Renan Malke Stigliani Mar 18 at 19:13
While not exactly what I'm looking for it is interesting that in landscape with a nav bar and tab bar the height of the table view is 219pt. Which seems similar to the height of the table view on find my finds. (All on 3.5 inch iOS device) titaniumtips.com/files/iphone_dimensions_landscape.php – Steve Moser Mar 19 at 3:04

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If the table can be interacted with, then you should follow the 44pt minimal tappable area for each cell.

If the table however is purely for information purposes, then as long as it is easily readable, it becomes a design question. Generally I would keep to about 13pt font sizes (possible 12pt) as a minimum, but if I wanted to emphasise or draw attention to the table, it may be 16pt or larger depending on the situation.

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My question is in reference to the whole table not the cell height. I updated my question to make it a little more clear. – Steve Moser Mar 15 at 19:11
@SteveMoser I've never seen anything like that, nor would it makes sense. If you have one row, then you have one row. As long as the elements are usably sized and look good, there isn't an issue. – JohnGB Mar 15 at 20:13
I could definitely foresee usability issues. For example, if your table view is exactly the height of one cell then the user doesn't have an affordance to see that there is more information that should be accessible. What I'm really looking for is the minimum height necessary that allows easy scrolling where the limiting factor is the human finger. – Steve Moser Mar 16 at 14:11
@SteveMoser That could happen at any cell height with any amount of data. – JohnGB Mar 16 at 14:52
But I'm assuming the standard iOS cell height of 44pt. It might be ambiguous when it comes to the web with so many devices and proportions that the devices display but not with an iPhone app. 44pt translates directly into a measurable size, say 1cm on all non-iPad iOS devices. – Steve Moser Mar 16 at 17:49
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