I think the answer depends on the use case. Spreadsheets are for general purpose compute. They are glorified calculators, and aren't meant to replace database

I think the answer depends on the use case. Spreadsheets are for general purpose compute. They are glorified calculators, and aren't meant to replace databases, even though some people seem to use them to store lists of records. Databases are for storing and accessing (linked) records. In the latter case (mostly CRUD) applications tend to have separate views for result sets (rows of records) and single records (eg amazon search results and product pages). This is a better visual data model than a grid of cells (which general purpose database access tools such as AirTable seem to insist on). I have started building something like AirTable with a 2-pane view but never finished it. Not sure if there's a business case for it, but it sure is fun to think about.