Table Fit

The answer is read in a terminal about 100 display columns wide. A table wider than that wraps every row, and wrapped rows lose the column alignment that made the table worth using. So a table only pays for itself when it stays narrow.

Two budgets, both hard:

• At most 4 columns. The label column counts as one.
• Every cell a short phrase. Never a sentence, never prose.

If the content fits both, use the table. If it does not, do not shrink the font of the problem by abbreviating into unreadable shorthand, and do not let the table run wide. Switch shape instead.

When the content will not compress

Use one of these instead of a table. Neither is a lesser answer; for prose-heavy content they are the better one.