Leaderboard tabs

Where: Leaderboard → Tabs

Each tab is one ranking: what it measures, how it sorts, and what the table shows.

What each tab ranks

Several tabs rank the same participants by different measures — distance, donations, activity count. Participants switch between them.

Order them by what your event is about. The first tab is the one most people read, and for many it is the only one.

Tab names

The label on the sorting tab: "By Distance", "By Donations".

Keep them short. Long names wrap badly on the mobile leaderboard, which is where most participants will look at it.

Columns

Which columns the table shows.

Be disciplined. Every column costs horizontal room, and on a phone a wide table either scrolls sideways or squeezes each column into illegibility. Three or four meaningful columns beat seven cramped ones.

Categories and fair comparison

If your event has categories — different distances or difficulties — ranking everyone in one table compares people who did different things.

Use tabs to separate the rankings that should be separate. Set this up before the event starts: changing the basis of ranking after participants have watched their position for a fortnight is a conversation worth avoiding.

Alignment

Column alignment can be set left, centre or right. Numbers read best right-aligned, so the digits line up and magnitudes are comparable at a glance. Names read best left-aligned.

Small thing, noticeable effect on a dense table.

Hiding the leaderboard

The leaderboard can be hidden entirely, and there is a separate control for showing it before the event starts.

Showing an empty leaderboard during registration is usually a mistake — it is the least impressive possible view of your event. The exception is when you want participants to find the page and know where to come back to.