Comments for Debra D's Blog http://debradalgleish.com/blog Behind the Scenes with an Excel consultant and website owner Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:34:42 +0000 hourly 1 Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by Debra Dalgleish http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-103 Debra Dalgleish Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:34:42 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-103 @AdamV, strange coincidence with the VLOOKUP/MATCH posting! And good point about the unnecessary IF formulas -- sometimes we overcomplicate things. @Tony, I hope you meant 1980's, not 1908! ;-) And apparently I can see <a href="http://www.pcmuseum.ca/details.asp?id=36158&type=Software" rel="nofollow">VU-CALC</a> at a PC museum not too far from here. @ Michael D., thanks for describing how you got started, and you made the right spreadsheet choice! @AdamV, strange coincidence with the VLOOKUP/MATCH posting! And good point about the unnecessary IF formulas — sometimes we overcomplicate things.

@Tony, I hope you meant 1980’s, not 1908! ;-) And apparently I can see VU-CALC at a PC museum not too far from here.

@ Michael D., thanks for describing how you got started, and you made the right spreadsheet choice!

]]> Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by Michael D. http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-102 Michael D. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:17:48 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-102 I've been using spreadsheets since about 1996. I started using two different spreadsheets programs around the same time (the school I was attending at the time was using the Microsoft Works suite on Windows 3.11, and my home computer was using a version of Corel Perfect Office 3.0). Made the jump to Excel in 1998 and haven't looked back. I’ve been using spreadsheets since about 1996. I started using two different spreadsheets programs around the same time (the school I was attending at the time was using the Microsoft Works suite on Windows 3.11, and my home computer was using a version of Corel Perfect Office 3.0). Made the jump to Excel in 1998 and haven’t looked back.

]]> Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by Tony http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-101 Tony Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:57:58 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-101 Debra, I just remembered. I used to have a Sinclair ZX81 in the 1908's with a 32k memory pack, and had a spreadsheet called VU-CALC !! Debra, I just remembered. I used to have a Sinclair ZX81 in the 1908’s with a 32k memory pack, and had a spreadsheet called VU-CALC !!

]]> Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by AdamV http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-100 AdamV Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:10:10 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-100 @Jon I'm doing a training programme at the moment where I am amazed by some of the habits of people that become ingrained over time and passed on from one person to another. Formulas such as =SUM(A1*B1) are really common with people who start off using autosum then realise they want a product instead of a sum, but they dont realise they don't need the function at all to do this. Equally lots of people (even at quite advanced levels) don't seem to have a grasp of a locical statement (with a Boolean result) in its own right, and seem drawn by unseen forces to put in IF statement everywhere, such as data validation, conditional format formulas and so on. =IF(foo,"TRUE","FALSE") just cracks me up every time. Oh well, I guess the current client must have seen the light (or at least know there is a light out there somewhere) to have hired me to bring their skills up to new levels, but I still find it baffling that people don't already know this stuff since I am about 99% self taught from books and blogs (and the built in help in the bad old days, of course). Maybe I was lucky that I was the "go to guy" for Excel, so I did not learn bad habits from others, but good practices from real experts. Incidentally. on February 8th the topic I was teaching was using the various lookup functions, and combining these using things like INDEX and MATCH, and using functions to find which column you need for your VLOOKUP. After a day's training I though I would relax by going through my RSS feeds and came across this post from the same day. Freaky! <a href="http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2010/02/08/excel-price-list-with-vlookup-and-match-function/" rel="nofollow">Excel Price List With VLOOKUP and MATCH Function</a> @Jon
I’m doing a training programme at the moment where I am amazed by some of the habits of people that become ingrained over time and passed on from one person to another. Formulas such as =SUM(A1*B1) are really common with people who start off using autosum then realise they want a product instead of a sum, but they dont realise they don’t need the function at all to do this.
Equally lots of people (even at quite advanced levels) don’t seem to have a grasp of a locical statement (with a Boolean result) in its own right, and seem drawn by unseen forces to put in IF statement everywhere, such as data validation, conditional format formulas and so on. =IF(foo,”TRUE”,”FALSE”) just cracks me up every time.

Oh well, I guess the current client must have seen the light (or at least know there is a light out there somewhere) to have hired me to bring their skills up to new levels, but I still find it baffling that people don’t already know this stuff since I am about 99% self taught from books and blogs (and the built in help in the bad old days, of course). Maybe I was lucky that I was the “go to guy” for Excel, so I did not learn bad habits from others, but good practices from real experts.

Incidentally. on February 8th the topic I was teaching was using the various lookup functions, and combining these using things like INDEX and MATCH, and using functions to find which column you need for your VLOOKUP. After a day’s training I though I would relax by going through my RSS feeds and came across this post from the same day. Freaky!
Excel Price List With VLOOKUP and MATCH Function

]]> Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by Jon Peltier http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-99 Jon Peltier Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:47:25 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-99 I see those formulas beginning with '+', and with '=+' or surrounded in 'SUM(...)', all too frequently, and from people who have never heard of Lotus 1-2-3... I see those formulas beginning with ‘+’, and with ‘=+’ or surrounded in ‘SUM(…)’, all too frequently, and from people who have never heard of Lotus 1-2-3…

]]> Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by Debra Dalgleish http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-98 Debra Dalgleish Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:36:41 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-98 Toad, I see those + signs at the start of Excel formulas too, even from people who've been using Excel for years. The first thing you learn sticks with you, I guess. I'd never heard of Packrat, but it looks like it was a personal organizer. I used Lotus organizer way back then, so maybe it was similar to that. And there's nothing wrong with bunny ears -- at least they're better than velcro fasteners. Toad, I see those + signs at the start of Excel formulas too, even from people who’ve been using Excel for years. The first thing you learn sticks with you, I guess.

I’d never heard of Packrat, but it looks like it was a personal organizer. I used Lotus organizer way back then, so maybe it was similar to that.

And there’s nothing wrong with bunny ears — at least they’re better than velcro fasteners.

]]> Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by Toad http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-97 Toad Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:20:50 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-97 I started with Excel for Windows 2.1 in 1988, I think. I still have the 5 1/4" floppies at my office. It came with a run-time version of Windows, for DOS users that hadn't purchased Windows yet. I already had Windows/286, though, so I was all set. Excel and Packrat were my first two Windows applications. I recall that I couldn't run an amortization schedule for a 30-year loan on Excel 2.1, because my 286 machine didn't have enough memory. My buddy at work told me that Windows was such a pig that it would never catch on, and that I should just go back to using 1-2-3. Well, hardware prices finally fell enough that Windows did catch on, and Lotus 1-2-3 shot itself in the foot. The spirit of 1-2-3 isn't dead yet, though. I still run into Excel spreadsheets where former Lotus users are entering the "+" before the first cell address in formulae. Some habits are hard to break, I guess. It makes me laugh. Then again, I still tie my shoelaces by making bunny ears. I started with Excel for Windows 2.1 in 1988, I think. I still have the 5 1/4″ floppies at my office. It came with a run-time version of Windows, for DOS users that hadn’t purchased Windows yet. I already had Windows/286, though, so I was all set. Excel and Packrat were my first two Windows applications.

I recall that I couldn’t run an amortization schedule for a 30-year loan on Excel 2.1, because my 286 machine didn’t have enough memory. My buddy at work told me that Windows was such a pig that it would never catch on, and that I should just go back to using 1-2-3. Well, hardware prices finally fell enough that Windows did catch on, and Lotus 1-2-3 shot itself in the foot.

The spirit of 1-2-3 isn’t dead yet, though. I still run into Excel spreadsheets where former Lotus users are entering the “+” before the first cell address in formulae. Some habits are hard to break, I guess. It makes me laugh.

Then again, I still tie my shoelaces by making bunny ears.

]]> Comment on Stop Looking in the Outbox by Debra Dalgleish http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/25/stop-looking-in-the-outbox/comment-page-1/#comment-96 Debra Dalgleish Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:12:11 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/25/stop-looking-in-the-outbox/#comment-96 Thanks Bob, something on this machine must be causing the problem. At least I know why it's happening now, and how to avoid it. Thanks Bob, something on this machine must be causing the problem. At least I know why it’s happening now, and how to avoid it.

]]> Comment on Stop Looking in the Outbox by Bob Ryan http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/25/stop-looking-in-the-outbox/comment-page-1/#comment-95 Bob Ryan Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:31:46 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/25/stop-looking-in-the-outbox/#comment-95 I don't generally have that problem either. (Vista Ultimate, WinXP Pro). If an email does ever get "stuck" in the Outbox, clicking the Send/Receive always gets it going. I don’t generally have that problem either. (Vista Ultimate, WinXP Pro). If an email does ever get “stuck” in the Outbox, clicking the Send/Receive always gets it going.

]]> Comment on How Long Have You Been Using Excel? by Debra Dalgleish http://debradalgleish.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-long-have-you-been-using-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-94 Debra Dalgleish Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:36:06 +0000 http://debradalgleish.com/blog/?p=123#comment-94 @Ute-S, great story, and I'm not sure how we survived in business for so long without the Internet. ;-) @Ute-S, great story, and I’m not sure how we survived in business for so long without the Internet. ;-)

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