For displaying of audit logs, is it better to show date and time on separate lines?

Question

I have to design a page with a table for an audit log, and one of the columns is the Timestamp. I am torn on how to handle this however, and I find examples of both on the web.

A) Without line break

2020-12-20  01:59:20 GMT+8

or

B) With line break

2020-12-20
01:59:20 GMT+8

What would be the best practice in this case?

Answer 1

I'd definitely go for option A. It makes it much easier to see that certain events happened close together, as can be seen from this example:

2020-12-20  02:45:30 GMT+8
2020-12-20  01:59:30 GMT+8
2020-12-20  01:59:26 GMT+8
2020-12-20  01:59:24 GMT+8
2020-12-20  01:59:20 GMT+8
2020-12-20  00:45:30 GMT+8

2020-12-20
02:45:30 GMT+8
2020-12-20
01:59:30 GMT+8
2020-12-20 
01:59:26 GMT+8
2020-12-20 
01:59:24 GMT+8
2020-12-20
01:59:20 GMT+8
2020-12-20
00:45:30 GMT+8

If you lack the horizontal space for this, consider dropping the timezone indication (but show it in the table footer), use a shorter date time format (e.g. "Dec 20, 01:59") or do use option B, but show the date only when it changes, e.g.

2020-12-21
08:15:10 GMT+8
2020-12-20
02:45:30 GMT+8
01:59:30 GMT+8
01:59:26 GMT+8
01:59:24 GMT+8
01:59:20 GMT+8
00:45:30 GMT+8
2020-12-19
16:15:10 GMT+8

The ability to quickly compare them matters less when showing only a single log, e.g. on a detail page or as a tooltip.