Re: Naming cells in a grid?

[Patrick Wright <pdoubleya -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Geoff

Thanks for your detailed reply.

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.

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

>  From your description, you have logical names for the cells that don't
> match the actual names (e.g., "low-bid" versus "Low bid"), which
> suggests a simple solution: make the logical and actual names
> identical. Why use two names for the same thing? Just be sure to pick
> names that the user would use. For example, using a few of the names
> you presented:
> item-desc --> Description ("item" is unnecessary unless there are many
> different descriptions and you need an adjective to distinguish between
> them)

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.

A certain small number of columns reflect values that are common in
this industry and whose meaning is well-defined, so there would be a
conceptual name that is clear, which, unfortunately, might not be the
name as it appears on screen by default. I was told this was in part
because the software makers have to deal with clients in different
countries who have their own synonyms for these common terms, and some
decisions just had to be made.

> Hart, G. 2004.Streamlining an interface using information design
> principles. Intercom December 2004:9-11.

Thanks, I will look this up.

> It's better to choose the name the user will use. If the user is a
> programmer who will be configuring the spreadsheet, refer to the
> logical name. If the user is someone who will actually be entering
> data, see above.

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.


> If you need to actually mention rows and columns, you haven't designed
> the interface acceptably well. Why say "click the cursor in the
> description cell (at the intersection of row 23 and column A)" when you
> can say "Edit the description"?

I haven't designed the interface, period. One reason why I am struggling here. 


> Try to avoid mentioning the purely logical (programmatic) aspects of
> the design: they're important to the developers, but not to anybody
> else. Talk about the "price area of the input screen" or the
> "data-input area" instead--that is, use words that reflect what the
> user is thinking, not what the programmer was thinking.

I understand the general point, and the original manual (which I am
updating) did that some of the time. I appreciate the point, though.
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.

Thanks for your feedback, Geoff.

Patrick

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