Using 2 side-by-side tables to display a long list of key-value pairs?

Question

I've a list with 20+ key-value pairs that I need to display in my app. The data is static and cannot be edited.

I'm using a table, currently it looks like this:

keyA	valueA
keyB	valueB
keyC	valueC
keyD	valueD
keyE	valueE
...	...

For more than 20 key-value pairs, this takes a lot of vertical space and wastes horizontal space.

I was thinking of putting 2 tables side-by-side, or a single table where every cell displays a key-value pair (instead of a column for keys, a column for values)

keyA: valueA	keyB: valueB
keyC: valueC	keyD: valueD
keyE: valueE	keyF: valueF
...	...

Not sure if this is right? Is the data easily readable?

Answer 1

I would stick to your original approach, where you have a column for the key and a column for the value, now I'm assuming that the user don't need the 20+ tuples at the same time. You always need to think on how to make information accessible to the user when they need it.

I would add a search field on he top of the table that allow the user to search for a given value/key and the table below can show only the relevant tuples like when you search for a contact at your phone address book.