Naming cells in a grid? (take II)

Subject: Naming cells in a grid? (take II)
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:02:44 -0500


Patrick Wright provided additional details: <<I have no control over the application design--it's been in use and for sale for many years now. It has a large number of usability problems as far as I can tell.>>

While this is true, that doesn't mean you can't make suggestions. In my experience, developers are usually willing to listen to polite and reasonable suggestions for improvement more readily than outright criticism.

<<Some notes follow--not trying to argue with you, but rather to explain the situation more clearly>>

No worries. Hopefully we'll progressively get closer to an answer that helps!

<<The application has over a hundred columns that the user can choose to see--the application is for financial information, so columns reflect either real or calculated pricing information. For each column, there is a default name which is usually abbreviated--my guess is that if the user adds it, it doesn't take up too much space by default. Users can change column names to their liking.>>

This raises the problem of how you know what the column name is: if the default name remains semi-constant, and the user can use that name to access the data it contains, then you're best off referring to the default name. If nothing remains constant, it's not clear to me how you can document it other than "by example". For example, in a spreadsheet cell that calculates a mean value, the label might be "Average" but the function underlying the cell contents might be "mean(A1:A15)" or something similar. In a case like that, you'd use the "Average" label as an example of the use of the "mean" function.

<<The problem is the user will usually see the name as the application defaults it. If this were a stock pricing application, then a stock's closing price on the most recent day of trading might default to "ClsPrcR" (honestly). So my question is how to deal with this--some columns have default names that are pretty clear, others less so. On the other hand, if I always refer to the conceptual name I'm not sure if the reference (e.g. which column) will be clear.>>

Perhaps this is a case where the solution is to offer field-level help: a tooltips/"What's this?" approach would be ideal, since no matter what the user renames the cell, the underlying help ID remains constant. This lets the user point at something they want to understand better and instantly get the available help for that item. The popup should make it very clear what topics to consult in the main online help; for example, "See the help topic _Using the mean function_".

<<What I am not sure of is what the user is thinking in this case--I have no contact with them, and not sure if the conceptual names given to the UI have stuck or not. In my own experience, some of these names are pushed by the software vendor but don't stick in the user community.>>

If the software is as successful as you've reported, then the users have learned to work with the names being promoted by the vendor. They may immediately change these to more familiar terms, but they'll at least know the names well enough that they can look for them and make that change. That being the case, stick with what the users know: the default names.

If there's a lookup table somewhere that lets users determine the relationship between the original defaults and the current renamed versions, making it easy to find that table would be a great help. Doubly so if combined with one-click access to the online help for each default.

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Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.com
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References:
Naming cells in a grid: From: Patrick Wright
Re: Naming cells in a grid?: From: Patrick Wright

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