Tables & Lists Skill

How this skill behaves (read first)

This is a generative skill. The default failure modes: decoration over data (heavy borders, zebra everything, centered text, mixed formats), missing manipulation (no sorting, no customization — fatal at real data volumes), and density extremes (cramped 32px rows or wasteful spacing). A table's only job is letting users scan, compare, and act on data — every visual choice either serves that or fights it. This skill gates:

1. Establish the data shape and tasks — 2-D comparison (table) vs. 1-D scanning (list), volume, and what users do with rows.
2. Apply the always-true core — alignment rules, hierarchy, formats, interaction states.
3. Surface the context-dependent decisions (density, pagination type, customization, list variants) with trade-offs.

Then it hands off to ux-heuristics-audit, ux-accessibility-audit, ux-aesthetics-audit, and ux-microcopy-audit for validation.

Step 0 — Establish context before designing

Ask if not known; state the assumption if proceeding without an answer: