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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?

1 Answer 1

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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.

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  • Thing is, the data is displayed in a modal, and the data is only used as a reference. The user imports the data from another application, there is a modal where they can correct fields that haven't been imported correctly, and the reference data is displayed under the fields. I want to minimize scrolling, that's why I thought it would be better to have 2 columns
    – Simon Tran
    Aug 10, 2021 at 16:40
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    Got it, probably the only suggestion that I would made if you are going with two columns is try to be really explicit on how a key item looks vs a value item to avoid confusions, use font weights and/or colors
    – Richard
    Aug 10, 2021 at 19:09

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