hi all,
i have been browsing old topics in this group on the recommended
structure of spreadsheets.
as far as i could see, there are 2 opposing camps:
1 - the IBM model, with separated inpust, calculations and results.
2 - raffensbergers single sheet model.

there appeared to be some debate a couple of years ago that did not
seem to produce an overall conclusion (see thread
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...eb4765dd1a243f
)

is raffensberger still a proponent of the single sheet design? ( i cant
find any recent comments by him in the newsgroup which suggest he has
given up on his theory or is no longer interested in ther debate). are
there any other methodologies that have arisen?

also, does anyone have any links to visual design of spreadsheets,
especially charts and user-entry sheets? i've found several references
to a book, the visual display of quantitative information (?), but was
hoping for some discussion in a newsgroup or website, hopefully with
examples of good and bad visual design.

Many thanks

Hi philc,

Links to spreadsheet design;
Gary Klass has some interesting thoughts here
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/gmklass/pos138/datadisplay/
My own unfinished attempt to describe style is at
http://edferrero.m6.net/DataTutor01.shtml

From that, you should see that I am a proponent of separating data, setup
parameters, and results. I do agree with many, but not all, of the points
John Raffensperger makes (see
http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/people/jfraffen/ for links), but still
prefer my own design.

Ed Ferrero
http://edferrero.m6.net/

hi all,
i have been browsing old topics in this group on the recommended
structure of spreadsheets.
as far as i could see, there are 2 opposing camps:
1 - the IBM model, with separated inpust, calculations and results.
2 - raffensbergers single sheet model.

there appeared to be some debate a couple of years ago that did not
seem to produce an overall conclusion (see thread
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...eb4765dd1a243f
)

is raffensberger still a proponent of the single sheet design? ( i cant
find any recent comments by him in the newsgroup which suggest he has
given up on his theory or is no longer interested in ther debate). are
there any other methodologies that have arisen?

also, does anyone have any links to visual design of spreadsheets,
especially charts and user-entry sheets? i've found several references
to a book, the visual display of quantitative information (?), but was
hoping for some discussion in a newsgroup or website, hopefully with
examples of good and bad visual design.

Many thanks

perhaps the discussion has diminished because the input - calculation -
output model has been universally accepted. this is the model i use for
almost all of my spreadsheets. there were many flaws in raffensbergers
logic, and i believe he only created certain types of spreadsheets
which distorted his views.
another source for discussion i have found is eusprig (this is where i
found the ibm guidelines). unfortunaletly i have not found much else of
use; most of the discussion seems to come from people with a commercail
product to sell, and takes the form of In our spreadsheet software
.....'.
finally, where is the best group to discuss the visual display or
aesthetics in excel?