Excel spreadsheet designs

Notably Microsoft Excel is one of the most powerful spreadsheet programs around, but unfortunately many people do not follow best practices for Excel spreadsheet designs. The end-result is that many of the spreadsheets are simply flawed and filled to the brim with inconsistencies. You need to consider the end rather than the beginning when working with Excel spreadsheet designs. Never think that it will stay an uncomplicated worksheet – always think long term.

The key to great Excel spreadsheet designs lies in proper planning. It is the most important part. The user must be able to rely on the correctness of the information. Consider the rows, formatting, lay-out, calculations, and functions used when planning the process.

Remember that the program provides more rows than it is able to handle with success. Even though the program in the 2007 version gives one million rows, it will not be able to handle such a large worksheet. If you thus complete even only 500 000 rows you will not be able to open the worksheet again. Keep the worksheets smaller rather than trying to use all the rows.

Don’t over format. Yes you want the worksheet to be easy to read, but if done at the expense of efficiency you have missed the point. Make use of universal colours such as black and grey. Not all users are going to print the worksheet in colour. It is thus essential that the user will still be able to read the information correctly if the user prints out in black and white or greyscale.

Limit the text formatting of cells. You should remember that worksheets are about numbers and thus only use the text formatting if essential for the particular cell. In this way you prevent unexpected errors or results. Also note that you want to keep file sizes small and if you do sporadic formatting to cells you will increase the file sizes.

The above are just a few of the guidelines that will be shared with you when you attend one of our courses on Excel spreadsheet designs. Our presenters work with the spreadsheets and the design thereof on a daily basis and will show you in a practical hands-on class how to follow sound designing principles.