Re: For the love of spreadsheets

Subject: Re: For the love of spreadsheets
From: Jay Maechtlen <techwriter -at- laserpubs -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2016 07:55:56 -0700

Well - spreadsheets certainly have lots of uses, and many of our current docs are in Excel spreadsheets.
It is almost ok.
However - Excel doesn't really like more than one font in a cell.
If you do find-and-replace, anytime you replace text in a cell, you blow out any special formatting in that cell.
So much for any bolded or italicized text in that cell.
Also, there are named formats - but they apply to cells - not paragraphs within cells, and certainly not to ranges of characters.
For numbers and data, spreadsheets are the obvious choice.
Yes you can have computations in Word tables, just like you can have text in Excel.
That's equally lame. Better than nothing, but not what you probably want.

fwiw
Jay

On 3/31/2016 7:20 PM, Steven Jong wrote:

I will speak for the spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet programs handle text quite reasonably, including spellchecking and font control. Even assuming youâre only entering text, a spreadsheet program is an effective tool for making tables of unlimited size. You can swap and move rows and columns, span cells horizontally and vertically, make non-scrolling headers, and organize rows into levels as with an outliner. Each of these things is as difficult or more difficult to do in a word processor.

The size issue is significant. Yes, you can make a table in a word processor, but itâs tied to the page layout; after three or four columns you become acutely aware that youâre running out of space on the page, and if you have to keep going you have to set the page to landscape, reduce the margins, reduce the font size, and otherwise futz around. A spreadsheet doesnât care how many columns (or rows!) youâre adding, and doesnât restrict you at all. Also, you can scroll around to your heartâs content. Documents with very complex tables are just easier to deal with as spreadsheets. If you do want to format things, itâs at least as easy to resize rows and columns in a spreadsheet as it is in a word-processing app; and Iâd say itâs easier to rule tables.

Once you get the hang of it, moving rows and columns, as well as spanning cells, is equally easy with both tools.

You can freeze rows or columns to make vertical or horizontal headers. (Itâs a bit tricky, but I figured it out easily enough.)

When we were putting together certification, our consultant took notes during lively discussions using a spreadsheet. He organized comments into an outline by dragging rows one or two cells over, a use Iâd never seen before that worked capitally. He was a lousy typist but he kept up with us.

Beyond its use for tables, if youâre collecting data records from a file, a spreadsheet is the preferred format to receive it. Any task that involves counting, summing, or sorting rows is also a candidate for a spreadsheet.

Finally, spreadsheet programs (OK, Excel) are solid and reliable, unlike some word processors I could name where youâre never quite sure you can trust them (OK, it).

â Steve

ââ
Steven Jong
mailto:SteveFJong -at- comcast -dot- net
Mobile: 978-413-2553
Home sweet home page: StevenJong.net

âReading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.ââFrancis Bacon

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as techwriter -at- laserpubs -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


--
Jay Maechtlen
626 444-5112 office
626 840-8875 cell
www.laserpubs.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

Previous by Author: RE: FrameMaker and TFS?
Next by Author: Re: Working Off Site
Previous by Thread: Re: For the love of spreadsheets
Next by Thread: Re: For the love of spreadsheets


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads