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Jessica Enders wrote an article on A List Apart about three studies she did to determine whether "zebra stripes" are helpful.

The first study, described in an earlier article, tested users' ability to read and interpret data in a simple table. The second study was similar to the first, with an improved methodology. The third study attempted to determine whether users tend to have a subjective preference for striped tables.

The recommendation

The results of the three studies conducted to date suggest that the safest option is to shade the alternating, individual rows of your table with a single color. Taking this approach is likely to ensure that:

• task performance is better, or at least no worse, than with other table styles, and
• the aesthetic sensibilities and subjective preferences of the majority of your users are catered for.

If zebra striping of this type cannot be done easily, then ruling a line between each row may be the next best option.

Jessica Enders wrote an article on A List Apart about three studies she did to determine whether "zebra stripes" are helpful.

The first study, described in an earlier article, tested users' ability to read and interpret data in a simple table. The second study was similar to the first, with an improved methodology. The third study attempted to determine whether users tend to have a subjective preference for striped tables.

The recommendation

The results of the three studies conducted to date suggest that the safest option is to shade the alternating, individual rows of your table with a single color. Taking this approach is likely to ensure that:

• task performance is better, or at least no worse, than with other table styles, and
• the aesthetic sensibilities and subjective preferences of the majority of your users are catered for.

If zebra striping of this type cannot be done easily, then ruling a line between each row may be the next best option.

Update: Don't miss Filipe Hoffa's answer below.

Jessica Enders wrote an article on A List Apart about three studies she did to determine whether "zebra stripes" are helpful.

The first study, described in an earlier article (which this answer referenced originally), tested users' ability to read and interpret data in a simple table. The second study was similar to the first, with an improved methodology. The third study attempted to determine whether users tend to have a subjective preference for striped tables.

The recommendation

The results of the three studies conducted to date suggest that the safest option is to shade the alternating, individual rows of your table with a single color. Taking this approach is likely to ensure that:

• task performance is better, or at least no worse, than with other table styles, and
• the aesthetic sensibilities and subjective preferences of the majority of your users are catered for.

If zebra striping of this type cannot be done easily, then ruling a line between each row may be the next best option.

Jessica Enders wrote an article on A List Apart about three studies she did to determine whether "zebra stripes" are helpful.

The first study, described in an earlier article, tested users' ability to read and interpret data in a simple table. The second study was similar to the first, with an improved methodology. The third study attempted to determine whether users tend to have a subjective preference for striped tables.

The recommendation

The results of the three studies conducted to date suggest that the safest option is to shade the alternating, individual rows of your table with a single color. Taking this approach is likely to ensure that:

• task performance is better, or at least no worse, than with other table styles, and
• the aesthetic sensibilities and subjective preferences of the majority of your users are catered for.

If zebra striping of this type cannot be done easily, then ruling a line between each row may be the next best option.

Jessica Enders wrote an article on A List Apart about an experiment she did to determine whether "zebra stripes" are helpful.

The conclusion was zebra stripes don't help, but they don't seem to do any harm.

This experiment yielded no evidence that zebra striping consistently improves the accuracy or speed of tasks. This would seem to suggest that we shouldn’t bother with zebra striping anymore.

However, there are a few arguments against tossing zebra striping out altogether.

 

Firstly, in this study there was a subjective preference for striped tables over plain. My reading and discussions with others suggest a number of people find zebra-striped tables more aesthetically pleasing. If many users like zebra striping (and another large group aren’t fussed either way), then why not apply it?

Secondly, this was just one experiment, with one dataset. It is possible that the particular design of this experiment meant that zebra striping had little effect. In other cases, particularly when there is considerable space between columns and/or the user is required to scroll horizontally, a more pronounced effect may have been observed.

Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, a number of participants in the study spontaneously reported using their finger, on or over the computer screen, to follow down columns and across rows. Other participants used their mouse to highlight rows of interest. These people were, in effect, creating their own “temporary” zebra striping. So we may be reducing the burden on our users if we do the zebra striping for them.

Formulate Information Design was supposed to have done a follow-up study, but I couldn't find any information on it, so I sent them a tweet with a link to this question.

Jessica Enders wrote an article on A List Apart about three studies she did to determine whether "zebra stripes" are helpful.

The first study, described in an earlier article (which this answer referenced originally), tested users' ability to read and interpret data in a simple table. The second study was similar to the first, with an improved methodology. The third study attempted to determine whether users tend to have a subjective preference for striped tables.

The recommendation

The results of the three studies conducted to date suggest that the safest option is to shade the alternating, individual rows of your table with a single color. Taking this approach is likely to ensure that:

• task performance is better, or at least no worse, than with other table styles, and
• the aesthetic sensibilities and subjective preferences of the majority of your users are catered for.

If zebra striping of this type cannot be done easily, then ruling a line between each row may be the next best option.