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Re: the high cost of not knowing what you don't know
Subject:Re: the high cost of not knowing what you don't know From:Jay Maechtlen <techwriter -at- covad -dot- net> To:kemulholland -at- yahoo -dot- com Date:Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:33:26 -0700
Karen Mulholland wrote:
> A cautionary tale about the non-intuitive behaviour of Microsoft Excel's "hide row/column" feature...
>
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/15/lehman_buyout_excel_confusion/
>
> Many of us TCs know that Excel's hidden rows and columns behave this way, having been bitten by it, but it is not "common knowledge" by any means.
>
> Now the tech comm angle:
>
> I'm sure this is in the help for the application, but who consults the help for a basic task that they can see how to do - such as exporting or cutting and pasting the data? Help is only an effective way to communicate information that people "know they don't know." This case makes clear that help is NOT effective for communicating information that people "don't know that they don't know."
>
> What could Microsoft do to ensure that people are aware that the "hide" attribute doesn't go along with the data when you put your spreadsheet into a different file format or application?
>
Wow.
That was one big spreadsheet.
And they were working under a four-hour deadline.
It's not clear how the hidden rows/columns got unhidden.
I'm halfway decent at Excel, but I really don't know the rules of what
gets included or not when importing/exporting/etc.
bummer...
What should MS do?
Include another annoying warning that all of us would want to turn off?
cheers
Jay
--
Jay Maechtlen
626 444-5112 office
626 840-8875 cell
www.laserpubs.com
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