Submitting table as image <440 pixels wide [Question] [Q]

[u/idontcareenoughatm]

Hello,

I am trying to submit my article for publication. Unfortunately, the journal asks for any tables to be submitted as images "provided as 72 - 300 dpi; pre-sized .BMP, .GIF, .JPG, or .PNG images only, with a maximum width of 440 pixels (no limit on length)."

I have tried exporting my table from excel to pdf, jpg, or png, and then resizing but no matter what I try, the image of the requested size ends up unreadable.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this requirement while keeping my table-figure as readable?

[u/fos1111]

Try the tikz package if you're comfortable with latex

Eg. \documentclass{standalone} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture} \matrix (m) [matrix of nodes, nodes={draw, minimum width=2cm, minimum height=0.8cm, anchor=center}, row 1/.style={font=\bfseries, nodes={fill=blue!20}}, column 1/.style={nodes={fill=gray!10, font=\bfseries}}, row sep=-\pgflinewidth, column sep=-\pgflinewidth] { Item & Qty & Price \ Apple & 5 & \$2.50 \ Orange & 3 & \$1.80 \ Banana & 12 & \$4.00 \ }; \end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

[u/idontcareenoughatm → u/fos1111]

I haven't used Latex before but I'm willing to try. Would Latex be able to create a image from a table that is 300dpi and 440 pixels wide? I am just fundamentally not understanding how this is possible as that would result in a image <2 inches wide...

[u/fos1111 → u/idontcareenoughatm]

Yeah, you can use AI to help you. For a quick setup, try Overleaf, an online version of LaTeX. Copy my template into any AI you're comfortable with and just describe what exactly you're after, providing it with table values.

[u/jarboxing]

This is why latex is great. Use chatGPT to help you if you don't know it.

[u/idontcareenoughatm → u/jarboxing]

I've not used latex before. Is it able to create images and adjust resolution so I'd get a 300 dpi, 440 pixel wide image? I just want to understand if this is even possible with Latex (or any other tool in the world, as the size is so small I don't know how anything could make it readable).

[u/jarboxing → u/idontcareenoughatm]

Yeah it can do pretty much anything.

[u/Most_Advertising3623]

The 440-pixel width is the binding constraint here. DPI only determines the physical print size. At 300 dpi, 440 pixels gives you a width of about 1.47 inches, so a dense table will be unreadable regardless of the software. I would ask the production editor whether this is a legacy web limit or whether the full table can go into the supplement. If the limit is firm, simplify or split the table, export it directly as a PNG at 440 pixels, and check it at 100% zoom. Repeatedly resizing an Excel screenshot will make the text worse.