Advanced Report Design - Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services - page 256

Figure 6-89
The sample report shown above only has two columns, but it could easily have several. There is no need to
restrict the functionality of your reports simply because users can't see all of the information at one time.
Just keep in mind that when users navigate to the report, they will only see the information beginning in
the top-left corner of the content. Design your reports with this in mind, placing the most important con-
tent near this entry point. Users can always scroll to find other information if the report is intuitive and
easy to navigate. This is yet another reason to use interactive reporting features like drill-down.
Keep the report content size to a minimum as well. Regardless of the device or computer used to view
reports, dial-up users will always suffer a significant performance penalty from large reports. Avoid
unnecessary use of graphics and filter the data whenever possible. The Pocket PC phone device pictured
here can connect to the Internet using either cell phone dial-up or a wireless network connection, but
broadband wireless is typically only available in close proximity to a secure wireless access point. At
best, cellular dial-up connection speeds are typically 14400 to 19200 bits per second. Figure 6-90 shows a
product report with drill-down capabilities.