Do Zebra Stripes Actually Help?

RyoShin writes "A List Apart, an excellent resource for web development and related aesthetics, has put together an article based on original research by Jessica Enders into 'zebra striping.' From the article: 'Zebra striping [coloring alternate rows] is used when data is presented in an essentially tabular form. The user of that table will be looking for one or more data points. Their aim is to get the right points and get them as quickly as possible. Therefore, if we set a task that uses a table, and zebra striping does make things easier, then we would expect to see improvements in two things: accuracy and speed.' The conclusion of the peer reviewed paper? It's a wash. Striped tables offered only a slight increase in accuracy and speed overall. The article notes a few other benefits to using Zebra striping, so it's all up to the individual."

Comments

at zebra crossings

[line-bundle]

if you get run over at a zebra crossing you'll be easier to see whether you are black or white.

Re:Preposterous

[427_ci_505]

dorkstick

Re:It looks nice

[hostyle]

I find that zebra stripes on wide tables don't really help, but rather having row/columns -based colour changes on mouseover/hover helps a lot.