[GNC] Suggesting simple interface changes

[Adrien Monteleone]

> On Apr 10, 2019, at 10:57 PM, ChrisInAccounting <Chrissnewton at outlook.com> wrote:
> 
> I work in accounting and think it may help newbies if a few changes were
> made.
> 
> 1.  In the chart of accounts, call the page "chart of accounts" rather than
> accounts (as default).  This will help them communicate with other business
> owner's who use other accounting platforms.  "Chart of Accounts" is
> universal in accounting and will only hinder the GnuCash user if they are
> learning different uncommon lingo.

An easy enough change. That’s just a matter of if the dev team likes the idea. An alternative might be a tool tip.

But on that note, formal accounting packages use debit/credit labels. By default, GnuCash does not. (but you can tell it to) Should this preference also be altered by default?
> 
> 2.  The page displaying Chart of Accounts has three columns that I would
> suggest be modified.  As it stands in version 3.5, the columns are "Account
> Name", "Description", and "Total".  This default setup is redundant, as the
> description is the same as the account name.  Again, for the benefit of new
> users, I highly suggest replacing the 'Description' column with "account
> type".  This way the user's eye can scan left to right to see the account
> name along with the type of account it is.

The description is what you make of it. Certainly, by default, it seems silly to repeat the account name. Perhaps better default descriptions are in order for a few accounts so people can see different ways to use that field.

There are other available columns. Click the drop down arrow to the far right of the header bar to see them and toggle them on/off.

Account Type is not one of them because the accounts are already in a ’tree’ for each type. (technically, there is a higher root account you can’t see) An account type column would be redundant here. But you could certainly use the Description column as a substitute if you like.

> 
>     I can see that the chart of accounts are listed as a hierarchy by
> account type, which is helpful, but the redundancy of having 'description'
> next to is, to me, is wasteful. Also consider that once the account list
> gets so long (under the parent of 'expenses', per se), the new user will
> have to scroll up to verify which account type they are working under rather
> than being able to quickly just eyeball to the right.  So please consider
> this modification.

The account types (as well as any nested accounts) are collapsable. I rarely have my expense list expanded because I rarely work with those accounts. I pretty much stick to assets, revenue (income) and liabilities. Expenses are almost always entered from one of those accounts. (Equity stays collapsed as well, though it is shallow)

I don’t even have all my asset accounts expanded as I don’t always need to use or see them.

> 
> 3.  Last, it would be helpful if the user could right click any account name
> and be able to run a report on it.  The "reports' tool as I currently see it
> is clunkly.  Being in the chart of accounts allows the user to go straight
> to the source to run a report on it.  Having to go to reports and scan
> through all the report options seems a little bit too long of a route, and
> less intuitive.  If this can be added, awesome.

That would be a nice feature, which I suppose would be the same as opening the account register and running an account report.

Regards,
Adrien