Usability questions

[Anthony Dardis]

Fair enough. More FWIW: Opera (the browser/mail program), and GnuCash,  
allow putting some stuff at the bottom of the screen -- like your open  
account tabs (Preferences > Windows) and the status bar. I find I really  
prefer this to having everything at the top of the screen.

(Hmm. Maybe this is an "old school" thing from I spent so much time  
programming on (serial) "terminals" where a great deal of the user  
interaction happened on the bottom line of the screen. vi and emacs still  
treat the bottom line of the window specially, but Word doesn't.)



On Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:23:15 -0500, Talengix <kj at talengix.com> wrote:

> I just think it would be nice to not have an entire screen full of
> transactions in front of your face while you are all the way at the  
> bottom
> trying to concentrate on another one. I guess it is no big deal for most
> users, I just found it to be a small and cramped working area. I guess I
> don't prefer to work sandwiched between the application status bar and
> summary bar below and a full screen of previous transactions above. I'm  
> not
> sure how other accounting software handles it as I installed a couple and
> they were so bloated and overkill I immediately uninstalled them. My  
> feeling
> is this can be handled better in future releases. One thought may even  
> be to
> have a small margin (e.g., 40 pixels) as a buffer between the last
> transaction and the app status bars. Just a thought. Cheers, Kevin
>
> On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 10:14 AM, Anthony Dardis <adardis at gmail.com>  
> wrote:
>
>> FWIW Quicken on Windows (2009?) works that way, and the weird  
>> psychology of
>> screen real estate does make it feel "cramped" although of course there  
>> is
>> no functional meaning to "cramped," since being at the bottom of the  
>> screen
>> makes no difference to what you can or can't do.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:48:58 -0500, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com>  
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Hi,
>>>
>>> On Sat, December 11, 2010 10:34 am, Talengix wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks Derek,
>>>>
>>>> Your tip did indeed solve the second point on my list. Hopefully,
>>>> somebody
>>>> has an answer for my other comment. Cheers. Kevin
>>>>
>>>
>>> Sorry, no way to do that.  It wont scroll past the end of the list,  
>>> and I
>>> think it would confusing if it did.  Honestly, sometimes I HATE that  
>>> when
>>> I'm scrolling down a spreadsheet it just keeps going well past the end  
>>> of
>>> my actual data.  I HATE HATE HATE that, and I'm very glad GnuCash  
>>> doesn't
>>> do that.
>>>
>>> A row is a row, and GnuCash will add and scroll for you to make sure  
>>> the
>>> whole transaction is visible (until you get so many splits that it gets
>>> bigger than the screen).
>>>
>>> -derek
>>>
>>>  On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 6:55 AM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, December 11, 2010 6:21 am, Talengix wrote:
>>>>> > Greetings,
>>>>> >
>>>>> [snip]
>>>>> > 2. The process of creating splits seems very unintuitive (if I'm  
>>>>> doing
>>>>> it
>>>>> > right) to me. First I adjust the date and then add a description.
>>>>> Next, I
>>>>> > must go way up to the main buttons and click Split. Then I must go  
>>>>> way
>>>>> > down
>>>>> > to the transaction and add the transaction amount for one account.
>>>>> Then I
>>>>> > must be careful to not hit enter or it wrecks the whole transaction
>>>>> and I
>>>>> > must cancel and start over. Assuming I don't mistakenly hit the  
>>>>> enter
>>>>> > button
>>>>> > by habit, to get the next part of the transaction I must go way  
>>>>> back
>>>>> up
>>>>> to
>>>>> > the split button on the main bar and click not once but twice. The
>>>>> first
>>>>> > click collapses the first split line (why?). The second click  
>>>>> finally
>>>>> > opens
>>>>> > them both up. Now, finally, I can choose the other account and  
>>>>> finish
>>>>> the
>>>>> > split. Furthermore, I was unable to find any shortcuts to do splits
>>>>> > quicker
>>>>> > and more efficiently. I think this is a serious problem since in
>>>>> double
>>>>> > entry accounting probably 95% of all transactions involve a Split.  
>>>>> Let
>>>>> me
>>>>> > know if I am doing this wrong.
>>>>>
>>>>> I think you're doing it wrong.
>>>>>
>>>>> First, I think 95% of all transactions are "Basic" transactions,  
>>>>> meaning
>>>>> they have exactly two Splits, one debit and one credit of equal  
>>>>> value.
>>>>> GnuCash is designed to make it extremely easy to enter in a Basic
>>>>> transaction.  All you do is put the "other" account into the transfer
>>>>> column.  Voila, you're done.  GnuCash will enter in both Splits for  
>>>>> you
>>>>> automatically.
>>>>>
>>>>> For that other 5% where you really DO have a multi-split transaction
>>>>> (involved >2 accounts), then yes, you need to expand the transaction.
>>>>> The
>>>>> way I do it is to still put one of the other accounts into the  
>>>>> transfer
>>>>> account, put the transaction value into the debit or credit column,  
>>>>> and
>>>>> *THEN* go push the Split button.  At this point it will expand into  
>>>>> two
>>>>> Splits (the current account and the account you entered in the  
>>>>> transfer
>>>>> column).
>>>>>
>>>>> From this point you can move around and edit the values.  When you  
>>>>> need
>>>>> to
>>>>> make a new blank split either change rows using the up or down  
>>>>> arrow, or
>>>>> just hit <TAB> until you tab off the end of the line.  Then it will
>>>>> create
>>>>> the new blank split for you.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hope this helps,
>>>>>
>>>>> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>>>> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>>>>
>>>>> -derek
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
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