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Re: spreadsheet ergonomics

owl
SubjectRe: spreadsheet ergonomics
Fromowl
Date04/04/2017 04:30 (04/04/2017 02:30)
Message-ID<guc8892.a@rooftop.invalid>
Client
Newsgroupscomp.os.linux.advocacy
FollowsSnit
FollowupsSnit (56m) > owl

Snit <usenet@gallopinginsanity.com>wrote:

Snit
On 4/3/17, 1:54 PM, in article bajz8v94.ab8@rooftop.invalid, "owl" <owl@rooftop.invalid>wrote:

owl
Snit <usenet@gallopinginsanity.com>wrote:

Snit
On 4/3/17, 12:38 PM, in article hjguc8892a.a@rooftop.invalid, "owl" <owl@rooftop.invalid>wrote:

owl
Snit <usenet@gallopinginsanity.com>wrote:

Snit
On 4/2/17, 9:12 PM, in article z9b003gaew.hy@rooftop.invalid, "owl" <owl@rooftop.invalid>wrote:

...

owl
now.

Snit
And then try to type between the updates? And then the updates are not happening in apparent real time, right?

I admit I could be wrong about that... if so I would love to see it.

But all of this setting refresh rates and more is showing what I have been talking about -- it is a kludge to try to do what you can do trivially with other tools (as shown in this video I already posted for you):

<https://youtu.be/V2bRLDuaVOk>

For whatever reason I clicked off of the cells to "finalize" them in the video. Can also hit enter or tab (and other options). No need to even leave the table.

owl
What does "finalize" mean? Clarify what all keystrokes or mouse clicks are necessary for all linked tables to update.

Snit
You type the number but it is not "accepted" until you leave the cell or otherwise tell the program you are done altering it.

And here is that spreadsheet where you can do what I show right now:

<https://www.icloud.com/numbers/040IoTN2lqc4MhnA0sNpm6zpg#Kids_RPG_Rules_-_M agic_System>OR <https://goo.gl/vOFudM>

owl
That might be a virus for all I know.

Snit
I understand: you are on Linux and are fearful of unknown websites. :)

Seriously, even if it was you would be immune... and it is not from an unknown source, or untested.

owl
Numbers -- updating a sheet with data from a completely separate file.

Snit
Well, this whole thing is a work around to try to emulate what Numbers does easily... have multiple tables all on one sheet

owl
And the question is why are you doing that anyway when you can just use different sections of one sheet for the work?

Snit
Why do it that way when you are not limited to it? Why not have each logical section be its own table?

owl
Because it doesn't need to be separated.

Snit
Need. No. But why not have the logical separations be separate visually and logically?

You haven't shown any benefit to that. I can freeze ranges and view distant cells, or I can jump to a distant table with

g "table3"

That jump could also be tied to a function key, so that hitting f3 would take me there.

What is the benefit to combining them? And what about different widths? I talk about that some here:

<https://youtu.be/VzVKlou6byU>

Makes it easier to update and maintain and move things around anyway... and table rows from one table do not effect the width of other data, etc.

owl
Who cares about that?

Snit
People who use spreadsheets generally care about them being easier to update and main and move things around.

owl
About 1/2 of 1 percent of the population. Your way is like have a 200 acre farm and never leaving the front porch.

Snit
What? And you can do it all in one table if you want... but, again, why would you want to be limited to that?

I can live with a 22-million cell limit.

...

It is running a spreadsheet. And it is from a known, trusted source.

owl
I thought you stipulated an untrusted source. You did specify that you did not really know what the file did. So would you run a Numbers spreadsheet from an untrusted source?

Snit
Run the file? You mean open it in Numbers. Sure. The risk is very tiny. Compare that to the risk of someone following your suggestions to merely rename an open file... if they do not know what that are doing they could easily and repeatedly lose data.

The risk is huge. It is closed-source.

Snit (56m) > owl