Create a Simple, Attractive Table with InDesign
Tables are a great way to display information such as numerical data, hours of operation, and standard procedures. While they can be made in Excel, InDesign has some sophisticated tools for making attractive tables, and data can even be imported into InDesign from Excel. I have used the Table tools in InDesign extensively the past year or so in two design jobs for organizing information for print media. Here is an easy way to make an impressive table using simple tools in InDesign.
First, open a new document in InDesign and create a text box using the Type Tool. It does not matter too much the size of the text box, but it is probably easier to make it bigger than it needs to be. Keep the cursor active in the text box.
With the cursor still flashing in the text box, go to the Table menu in InDesign and click on Insert Table. Above is what pops up. Plug in whatever numbers you want to be able to include all of your information. You can always add or subtract rows or columns later.
After inserting your table, enter in your text using the Type Tool. You can hit Tab after you finish entering in your text for each cell to quickly move to the next cell to the right, or Shift + Tab to move to the left. You can also use the arrow keys to move around the table. If you end up needing another column or row, you can go to the Table menu and hover over the Insert option, and select Row or Column. You can also delete a row or column in the Table menu. To select an entire row, hover the cursor just to the left of the row (it’ll turn into a fatter arrow) and click. To select an entire column, hover the cursor just above the top of the column and click.
For the next step, I chose to get rid of the black strokes around every cell of the table. To do this, I simply selected all the cells with the Type Tool (or Command + A when the cursor is flashing in one of the cells of the table) and selected “None” for the stroke color in the Swatches palette. You can change this color if you like, or make the stroke wider or thinner.
With the entire table still selected, I changed the font (I chose Tahoma) and then made the first column bold and the first row bold. I also selected the other three rows and centered the text in these cells.
With the cursor flashing somewhere in the table, go to the Table menu, hover over Table Options, and click on Table Setup to bring up the above box. This box has many possibilities you can play with with the Preview button checked off to make your table beautiful. I chose to do alternating fills for every other row in my table using a 20% tint of green. It is generally better to go with lighter colors for table fills. 
Above is how my table looked after adding some alternating fills using the Table Options menu. Now the viewer can easily follow a category across the entire table by simply moving their eyes across a colored strip.
I wanted to distinguish the top row from the rest of the rows so it is clear that this row is not part of the data in the rest of the table. I selected the entire first row, gave these cells a black fill with no stroke, and made the text white. 
Finally, I added a title to the table using the Type Tool and moving it to a spot I thought looked best. It is important to use a descriptive title for your tables so nobody gets confused what your table is about.
The table is now finished! I can now give it a text wrap and incorporate this into my body text, or do anything else with it that I like.
Dear Ms. Nickerson,
This is the greatest blog post I have ever laid eyes upon. It has, quite literally, saved my life. There is currently a man holding a gun to my head screaming, “Design me a graphically pleasing and easy to use table displaying information about the current stock trends of various major companies or else I will fire a small, fast-moving projectile in your general direction!” It’s quite frightening, but now I know I will succeed after reading this extremely informative entry. Thank you once again, Ms. Nickerson, for not only making the world a more pleasant and beautiful place, but saving my life as well.
Sincerely,
Thadius T. Flickenbocker III Sr. Esq.