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#1
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Date axes in Excel 2003 and 2007
In Excel 2003 it was possible to specify the range of a date axis simply by
entering the minmum and maximum as dates (e.g. "1 jan 2008"). In 2007 the "format axis"- "axis options" dialog simply ignores minimum and maximum values entered as date. You have to convert the date to a number manually (i.e. 39448) before specifying minimum and maximum values. Is there any other way to do it in 2007 ? And why was the very handy 2003 behaviour removed in 2007 ? Morten |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.charting
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Date axes in Excel 2003 and 2007
You'll have noticed other shortcomings in Excel 2007's charting
functionality and user interface. I believe these issues stem from (a) Office 2007 being hurried into production, (b) designers and coders of the new charting mechanism not being completely familiar with the old mechanism, thus not saving best practices from it. I reported this long ago as a bug, and we'll see if it's corrected in Office 14. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Tutorials and Custom Solutions Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com _______ "Morten Hvidberg-Knudsen" wrote in message ... In Excel 2003 it was possible to specify the range of a date axis simply by entering the minmum and maximum as dates (e.g. "1 jan 2008"). In 2007 the "format axis"- "axis options" dialog simply ignores minimum and maximum values entered as date. You have to convert the date to a number manually (i.e. 39448) before specifying minimum and maximum values. Is there any other way to do it in 2007 ? And why was the very handy 2003 behaviour removed in 2007 ? Morten |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.charting
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Date axes in Excel 2003 and 2007
Yes I am new to 2007 and I am struggling with the new (and, admiited, nicer)
look and feel. But apart from the look and feel, are the any improvements in 2007 (do you have a link?) (i.e: is the struggle worth while ?) From my point of view the has been no major improvements in Excel since Excel95 (apart from the ability to handle more rows). Reflecting of course that original object oriented Excel was incredibly well designed, but anyhow. But the ActiveX / VBA technology is now being considered outdated by some parts of Microsoft. Is Microsoft considering to redo Excel as .NET calsses (instead of ActiveX objects?) Regards Morten "Jon Peltier" wrote: You'll have noticed other shortcomings in Excel 2007's charting functionality and user interface. I believe these issues stem from (a) Office 2007 being hurried into production, (b) designers and coders of the new charting mechanism not being completely familiar with the old mechanism, thus not saving best practices from it. I reported this long ago as a bug, and we'll see if it's corrected in Office 14. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Tutorials and Custom Solutions Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com _______ "Morten Hvidberg-Knudsen" wrote in message ... In Excel 2003 it was possible to specify the range of a date axis simply by entering the minmum and maximum as dates (e.g. "1 jan 2008"). In 2007 the "format axis"- "axis options" dialog simply ignores minimum and maximum values entered as date. You have to convert the date to a number manually (i.e. 39448) before specifying minimum and maximum values. Is there any other way to do it in 2007 ? And why was the very handy 2003 behaviour removed in 2007 ? Morten |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.charting
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Date axes in Excel 2003 and 2007
"Morten Hvidberg-Knudsen" wrote: But apart from the look and feel, are the any improvements in 2007 (do you have a link?) (i.e: is the struggle worth while ?) IMO the improvements are too few and far between to make up for the labyrinthine user interface and related deterioration in productivity. And BTW, I don't really think the look and feel is an improvement for most experienced users. Excel 2003 is still my version of choice for my "real work". I have clients spread over the spectrum from 2000 (small declining numbers) through 2007 (small but rapidly increasing numbers). Most of my work in 2007 involves upgrading custom menus and toolbars into custom Ribbon interface elements, and fixing code that's broken in 2007. Most code that breaks in 2007 seems more related to earlier versions being more tolerant of poor programming practices than actual problems with 2007. From my point of view the has been no major improvements in Excel since Excel95 (apart from the ability to handle more rows). Reflecting of course that original object oriented Excel was incredibly well designed, but anyhow. There's something to be said for incremental improvement. Excel 97 was a big improvement over 95 with its larger grid and enhanced VBA. 2000 made further improvements including an upgrade to VBA and the introduction of pivot charts. 2002 saw several enhancements to pivot tables and to some chart options (data label options come to mind, but I think there were more). 2003 saw the introduction of a killer feature, the worksheet data List (which has blossomed in 2007 into the Table). All of these versions saw improved stability over prior versions. Excel 2007 made some step changes, some of which being big improvements, some big disappointments. I try to like it, I've been using it in various beta and even pre-beta forms since 2005. But the fact is, my productivity greatly affects my satisfaction with a software package, and any negative changes in a new version will strongly reduce my satisfaction. But the ActiveX / VBA technology is now being considered outdated by some parts of Microsoft. Is Microsoft considering to redo Excel as .NET calsses (instead of ActiveX objects?) They reassure us that VBA will remain a strong component of Excel for several more versions (and look how long XLM has remained viable). I think rather than try to rewrite Excel from the ground floor, Microsoft will probably rely on better implementation of the PIAs and expansion of VSTO. I have no special knowledge of their strategy, I am just responding based on what little I know and on what sense I make out of what I see. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Tutorials and Custom Solutions Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com _______ |
#5
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.charting
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Date axes in Excel 2003 and 2007
Sorry to bother you with all my questions. Feel free to ignore.
Are there any changes in 2007 (positive or otherwise) with respects to array functions (either native or those written in VBA)? I like the feature a lot (for many reasons) but there was not a lot support in using them in 2003 (e.g. no easy way of determining the size of the output range they require, and no warning if the guess was too small) Morten "Jon Peltier" wrote: "Morten Hvidberg-Knudsen" wrote: But apart from the look and feel, are the any improvements in 2007 (do you have a link?) (i.e: is the struggle worth while ?) IMO the improvements are too few and far between to make up for the labyrinthine user interface and related deterioration in productivity. And BTW, I don't really think the look and feel is an improvement for most experienced users. Excel 2003 is still my version of choice for my "real work". I have clients spread over the spectrum from 2000 (small declining numbers) through 2007 (small but rapidly increasing numbers). Most of my work in 2007 involves upgrading custom menus and toolbars into custom Ribbon interface elements, and fixing code that's broken in 2007. Most code that breaks in 2007 seems more related to earlier versions being more tolerant of poor programming practices than actual problems with 2007. From my point of view the has been no major improvements in Excel since Excel95 (apart from the ability to handle more rows). Reflecting of course that original object oriented Excel was incredibly well designed, but anyhow. There's something to be said for incremental improvement. Excel 97 was a big improvement over 95 with its larger grid and enhanced VBA. 2000 made further improvements including an upgrade to VBA and the introduction of pivot charts. 2002 saw several enhancements to pivot tables and to some chart options (data label options come to mind, but I think there were more). 2003 saw the introduction of a killer feature, the worksheet data List (which has blossomed in 2007 into the Table). All of these versions saw improved stability over prior versions. Excel 2007 made some step changes, some of which being big improvements, some big disappointments. I try to like it, I've been using it in various beta and even pre-beta forms since 2005. But the fact is, my productivity greatly affects my satisfaction with a software package, and any negative changes in a new version will strongly reduce my satisfaction. But the ActiveX / VBA technology is now being considered outdated by some parts of Microsoft. Is Microsoft considering to redo Excel as .NET calsses (instead of ActiveX objects?) They reassure us that VBA will remain a strong component of Excel for several more versions (and look how long XLM has remained viable). I think rather than try to rewrite Excel from the ground floor, Microsoft will probably rely on better implementation of the PIAs and expansion of VSTO. I have no special knowledge of their strategy, I am just responding based on what little I know and on what sense I make out of what I see. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Tutorials and Custom Solutions Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com _______ |
#6
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.charting
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Date axes in Excel 2003 and 2007
Do you mean functions like LINEST and also UDFs? As far as I know, the user
still must make a guess. If I am not sure the output size, and I don't care what it looks like, I'll select a range I know is more than adequate, and the extra rows and columns are simply filled with #N/A. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Tutorials and Custom Solutions Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com _______ "Morten Hvidberg-Knudsen" wrote in message ... Sorry to bother you with all my questions. Feel free to ignore. Are there any changes in 2007 (positive or otherwise) with respects to array functions (either native or those written in VBA)? I like the feature a lot (for many reasons) but there was not a lot support in using them in 2003 (e.g. no easy way of determining the size of the output range they require, and no warning if the guess was too small) Morten "Jon Peltier" wrote: "Morten Hvidberg-Knudsen" wrote: But apart from the look and feel, are the any improvements in 2007 (do you have a link?) (i.e: is the struggle worth while ?) IMO the improvements are too few and far between to make up for the labyrinthine user interface and related deterioration in productivity. And BTW, I don't really think the look and feel is an improvement for most experienced users. Excel 2003 is still my version of choice for my "real work". I have clients spread over the spectrum from 2000 (small declining numbers) through 2007 (small but rapidly increasing numbers). Most of my work in 2007 involves upgrading custom menus and toolbars into custom Ribbon interface elements, and fixing code that's broken in 2007. Most code that breaks in 2007 seems more related to earlier versions being more tolerant of poor programming practices than actual problems with 2007. From my point of view the has been no major improvements in Excel since Excel95 (apart from the ability to handle more rows). Reflecting of course that original object oriented Excel was incredibly well designed, but anyhow. There's something to be said for incremental improvement. Excel 97 was a big improvement over 95 with its larger grid and enhanced VBA. 2000 made further improvements including an upgrade to VBA and the introduction of pivot charts. 2002 saw several enhancements to pivot tables and to some chart options (data label options come to mind, but I think there were more). 2003 saw the introduction of a killer feature, the worksheet data List (which has blossomed in 2007 into the Table). All of these versions saw improved stability over prior versions. Excel 2007 made some step changes, some of which being big improvements, some big disappointments. I try to like it, I've been using it in various beta and even pre-beta forms since 2005. But the fact is, my productivity greatly affects my satisfaction with a software package, and any negative changes in a new version will strongly reduce my satisfaction. But the ActiveX / VBA technology is now being considered outdated by some parts of Microsoft. Is Microsoft considering to redo Excel as .NET calsses (instead of ActiveX objects?) They reassure us that VBA will remain a strong component of Excel for several more versions (and look how long XLM has remained viable). I think rather than try to rewrite Excel from the ground floor, Microsoft will probably rely on better implementation of the PIAs and expansion of VSTO. I have no special knowledge of their strategy, I am just responding based on what little I know and on what sense I make out of what I see. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Tutorials and Custom Solutions Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com _______ |
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