4 ms·

Excels usability isn't bad though. Which is why everyone uses it. It falls down in this (and lots of other cases) but if you want to see what good usability loo

Excels usability isn't bad though. Which is why everyone uses it. It falls down in this (and lots of other cases) but if you want to see what good usability looks like, look at what people use.

throw_m239339 6y ago
Everyone uses Excel because it's a tool everybody learned at University or even highschool, nothing more, it's not because it's good at all. It's a terrible app but Microsoft managed to shove it everywhere in education. Same for Words. Unfortunately Libre Office and co tried to reproduce the terrible UX of both software, while coming up with inferior functionalities because they had to try to maximise compatibility with these MS tools, time not spent on providing actual useful stuff. Access is a bit better and I wish more non programmers learned basic SQL instead of Excel.
- MystK 6y ago
  It may be a terrible app, but it's better than the competition. Does that mean it's the best one?
- tester756 6y ago
  So what in your opinion is "the right tool" to deal with spreadsheet type of tasks while maintaining things like easy to move to other PC and so on?
- brandonmenc 6y ago
  > Everyone uses Excel because it's a tool everybody learned at University or even highschool, nothing more My anecdote is the exact opposite. I was recently introduced to using Excel and actually writing some VBA inside of it when I helped a non-programmer with a complicated data processing task on a sheet they were populating from a database. This was the first time I really used Excel, even though I've had continuous access to it since Windows 3.0. Aside from some small annoyances, it was a generally pleasant experience. I also can't think of any tool that comes remotely close to the power and flexibility of Excel, particularly for people who are not programmers. I kind of got hooked on it, and now I frequently use it for little data processing tasks that I used to do in a REPL - and the bonus is I can share those with people who are not programmers.
  - brohee 6y ago
    You may enjoy "Pure Functional Programming in Excel" by Felienne Hermans presented at GOTO 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKf8TrLUOw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKf8TrLUOw
- listenallyall 6y ago
  > because they had to try to maximise compatibility with these MS tools, Worst excuse ever. Excel had to maximize compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3 (in the 80s/early 90s, the dominant spreadsheet application by far) from Day 1. It wasn't just that the files were compatible, Excel included keystroke compatibility so 1-2-3 experts could continue navigating the UI with their old commands. Unlike the LibreOffice team, Microsoft made a superior program in virtually every way, despite the burden of backwards compatibility with another program.

Excels usability isn't bad though. Which is why everyone uses it. It falls down in this (and lots of other cases) but if you want to see what good usability looks like, look at what people use.

throw_m239339 6y ago

Everyone uses Excel because it's a tool everybody learned at University or even highschool, nothing more, it's not because it's good at all. It's a terrible app but Microsoft managed to shove it everywhere in education. Same for Words. Unfortunately Libre Office and co tried to reproduce the terrible UX of both software, while coming up with inferior functionalities because they had to try to maximise compatibility with these MS tools, time not spent on providing actual useful stuff. Access is a bit better and I wish more non programmers learned basic SQL instead of Excel.

MystK 6y ago
It may be a terrible app, but it's better than the competition. Does that mean it's the best one?
tester756 6y ago
So what in your opinion is "the right tool" to deal with spreadsheet type of tasks while maintaining things like easy to move to other PC and so on?
brandonmenc 6y ago
> Everyone uses Excel because it's a tool everybody learned at University or even highschool, nothing more My anecdote is the exact opposite. I was recently introduced to using Excel and actually writing some VBA inside of it when I helped a non-programmer with a complicated data processing task on a sheet they were populating from a database. This was the first time I really used Excel, even though I've had continuous access to it since Windows 3.0. Aside from some small annoyances, it was a generally pleasant experience. I also can't think of any tool that comes remotely close to the power and flexibility of Excel, particularly for people who are not programmers. I kind of got hooked on it, and now I frequently use it for little data processing tasks that I used to do in a REPL - and the bonus is I can share those with people who are not programmers.
- brohee 6y ago
  You may enjoy "Pure Functional Programming in Excel" by Felienne Hermans presented at GOTO 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKf8TrLUOw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKf8TrLUOw
listenallyall 6y ago
> because they had to try to maximise compatibility with these MS tools, Worst excuse ever. Excel had to maximize compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3 (in the 80s/early 90s, the dominant spreadsheet application by far) from Day 1. It wasn't just that the files were compatible, Excel included keystroke compatibility so 1-2-3 experts could continue navigating the UI with their old commands. Unlike the LibreOffice team, Microsoft made a superior program in virtually every way, despite the burden of backwards compatibility with another program.