by RexinMinn » Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:43 am
Barry,
You asked about being more specific with respect to my dislike for Numbers.
With Appleworks spreadsheet, the process is straightforward. The on-screen options for Numbers make me feel as thought I'm flying an airplane, and I prefer to walk or take the bus.
So the on-screen options provided in Numbers appear as clutter to me. Makes me feel unsettled and disorganized (which perhaps I already am, but the clutter accentuates it).
Yesterday I must have spent close to a half-hour (only a slight exaggeration) simply trying to insert a title in a header. My wife later helped me figure out how to do this, but I was going crazy in Numbers when the job in AW would have been done in less than a minute. Again, something simple in AW is either unexplained (Help was no help) or left to deduction. That aspect of Numbers is another thing I don't like. But when you're going from something as utilitarian, simple and straightforward as AWs spreadsheet, which works great for me (if only I could rely on it saving) purposes, to something as obtuse as what you get in Numbers, the switch becomes intimidating.
Another example: I'm accustomed to being able to adjust my row height quickly in AW, something I do with great frequency (I narrow down to a 4 pt. row height as a separator between entries). In Numbers you must go through the Inspector to make a change in row height, and this is inconvenient for people who use the feature regularly. Then, once you're in the Inspector to make the change, you can only narrow down so far. That's no good.
Selecting cells in Numbers is an issue. In AW when you select, the area is covered by a yellow shield. In Numbers it's outlined by a narrow and nearly invisible line. I do not like this at all.
I used the "Duplicate" feature yesterday. Then I had a great deal of difficulty getting rid of the duplicate table and had to ask for my wife's assistance. We figured it out together. I've been working on spreadsheets in AW for over ten years, and I'm not incompetent. I think the design in Numbers is simply flawed. The logic in many of the operations is simply askew or non-existent, leaving the operator to sweat it out, when in AW it would have been apparent.
So you see there are some very basic and simple issues I'm dealing with. Numbers takes the fun out of spreadsheets for me. I see some advantages, but very few. I will eventually have to learn how to adapt to Numbers (already started doing so) but in general I believe it simply tries to do too much and in the end its utilitarian function is lost, at least from my perspective.
Thanks for asking, Barry. I'm sure I could go further with this but for now I think you get my point.