Hopefully quick question

[Pelton, Brian]

I want to be sure I'm using gnucash properly.  I am new to this
and would hate to get started on the wrong foot.

In the application, all of my accounts are positive (black numbers).

Assets +
Equity + 
Expenses +
Income +
Liabilities +
Suspense +


But, when I look at the raw xml data file and bring that into Excel or
whatever,
The totals of the accounts look like this:

Assets +
Equity -
Expenses +
Income -
Liabilities -
Suspense +


How can I be sure that I'm using the debits and credits properly.
Is it normal that the signs in the file are somewhat different
than the application (because of the normal balance of the account
type??)

Here are a few examples to look at:
(These are based on looking at the General Ledger window)


Account                           Funds In    Funds Out
--------------------------------  ----------  ----------

Equity:Opening Balances                           10,000
Assets:Fixed Assets:Car              10,000


Liabilities:Loans:Mortgage                       150,000
Equity:Opening Balances             150,000


Expenses:Food:Restaurant                 16
Liabilities:Credit Cards:Visa                         16




Thank you for any help,
Brian