Horrible table layout
The manual to the booktabs package offers useful advice on what the author refers to as the layout of formal tables (see page 3, for example). Coincidentally, the visually clean layout he advocates is also the one found in many of the engineering textbooks and journals I have consulted.
For typesetting tables I almost always use the extremely flexible ctable package. Here's a simple example:
\documentclass[11pt]{report}
\usepackage{ctable} % loads array, booktabs, and tabularx packages
\usepackage{etoolbox} % eTeX toolbox for class and package authors
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\geometry{
includeheadfoot,
margin=2.5cm,
hdivide={ ,19cm, }
}
\setlength{\hoffset}{0.00cm}
\setlength{\voffset}{0.00cm}
% change definition of horizontal or vertical text alignment
% for the X column specifier of the tabularx (or ctable) package
% (p = top align, m = middle align, b = bottom align)
% e.g., \tabXcol{\small\raggedright}, \tabXcol[m]{\raggedright}
\newrobustcmd*{\tabXcol}[2][p]{\renewcommand{\tabularxcolumn}[1]{>{#2\arraybackslash}#1{##1}}}
\begin{document}
{\tabXcol{\raggedright}%
\ctable[
table,
pos=h!,
%
maxwidth=1.0\textwidth,
%
caption = {Pillar of Institutions.},
%
label=tab:Pillars,
%
doinside={\small},
]{@{}llXX@{}}{}{
\toprule
& Regulative & Normative & Cultural-cognitive \\
\midrule
Basis of compliance & Expedience & Social obligation & Take-for-grantedness \\
& & & Shared understanding \\
\addlinespace
Basis of order & Regulative rules & Binding Expectations & Constitutive Schema \\
\addlinespace
Mechanisms & Coercive & Normative & Mimetic \\
\addlinespace
Logic & instrumentally & Appropriateness & Orthodoxy \\
\addlinespace
Indicators & Rules & Certifications & Common beliefs \\
& Laws & Accreditation & Shared logic of action \\
& Sanctions & & \\
\addlinespace
Basis of legitimacy & Legally sanctioned & Morally governed & Comprehensible \\
& & & Recognisable \\
& & & Culturally supported \\ \addlinespace
Supported by & Economists & Early Sociologist & Late Sociologist \\
\addlinespace
Primary Propagandists & North & Selznick & DiMaggio and Powell, Scott \\
\addlinespace
Degree of formality & Formal institutions & Informal institutions & Informal institutions \\
\addlinespace
\bottomrule
}}%
\end{document}
You already have some nice touches in your table's design, such as the use of the booktabs package and its associated horizontal line-drawing macros and the avoidance of any vertical rules. I recommend doing the following on top of what you've already done:
- Use ragged-right look in the columns (no ugly huge interword spaces)
- By (i) omitting vertical whitespace before the first column and after the last column, (ii) reducing the intercolumn whitespace a bit relative to the LaTeX default, and (iii) varying the default relative widths of the three
Xcolumns, you can get rid of virtually all unpleasant line breaks - If you set the
tabularxgroup to the full width of the text block, you don't need the\centeringinstruction. I'd insert a\smallskip, though, to insert a bit of space between the caption and the table's\toprule.
\documentclass[11pt]{report}
\usepackage{booktabs,microtype}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\geometry{
includeheadfoot,
margin=2.5cm,
hdivide={ ,19cm, }
}
\usepackage{tabularx,ragged2e}
\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\RaggedRight\arraybackslash}X} % modified "X" column
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[htp]
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{4pt} % slight reduction from default value
\caption{Pillar of Institutions}\label{tab:Pillars}
\smallskip
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{} l
>{\hsize=0.92\hsize}Y % One can vary widths of "X" column types,
>{\hsize=1.04\hsize}Y % as long as the factors add up to number of
>{\hsize=1.04\hsize}Y @{}} % columns of type "X"
\toprule
& Regulative & Normative& Cultural-cognitive \\
\midrule
Basis of compliance &Expedience& Social obligation & Take-for-grantedness \linebreak Shared understanding\\
Basis of order & Regulative rules& Binding Expectations &Constitutive Schema\\
Mechanisms & Coercive &Normative & Mimetic\\
Logic &instrumentally & Appropriateness& Orthodoxy\\
Indicators & Rules \linebreak Laws \linebreak Sanctions &Certifications \linebreak Accreditation & Common beliefs\linebreak Shared logic of action\\
Basis of legitimacy &Legally sanctioned & Morally governed & Comprehensible \linebreak Recognisable \linebreak Culturally supported\\
Supported by &Economists & Early Sociologist & Late Sociologist\\
Primary Propagandists & North & Selznick & DiMaggio and Powell, Scott\\
Degree of formality &Formal institutions &Informal institutions&Informal institutions\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}
My very quick take:
\documentclass[11pt,pdftex]{report}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{microtype}
\geometry{
includeheadfoot,
margin=2.5cm,
hdivide={ ,19cm, }
}
\setlength{\hoffset}{0.00cm}
\setlength{\voffset}{0.00cm}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[htbp]
\caption{Pillar of Institutions}\label{tab:Pillars}
\centering
\begin{tabularx}{0.99\textwidth}{lXXX}
\toprule
& Regulative & Normative& Cultural-cognitive \\
\midrule \midrule
\textit{Basis of compliance} & Expedience & Social obligation & Take-for-grantedness \linebreak Shared understanding\\
\midrule
\textit{Basis of order} & Regulative rules& Binding Expectations &Constitutive Schema\\
\midrule
\textit{Mechanisms} & Coercive & Normative & Mimetic\\
\midrule
\textit{Logic} & instrumentally & Appropriateness& Orthodoxy\\
\midrule
\textit{Indicators} & Rules \linebreak Laws \linebreak Sanctions &Certifications \linebreak Accreditation & Common beliefs\linebreak Shared logic of action\\
\midrule
\textit{Basis of legitimacy} & Legally sanctioned & Morally governed & Comprehensible \linebreak Recognisable \linebreak Culturally supported\\ \midrule
\textit{Supported by} & Economists & Early Sociologist & Late Sociologist\\
\midrule
\textit{Primary Propagandists} & \textsc{North} & \textsc{Selznick} & \textsc{DiMaggio} and \textsc{Powell, Scott}\\
\midrule
\textit{Degree of formality} & Formal institutions & Informal institutions&Informal institutions\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}
What one could still optimize:
- Text justification in last column (I don't know how to do this)
- Use shading instead of lines to better separate rows