[GNC] Suggesting simple interface changes

[John Ralls]

> On Apr 10, 2019, at 8:57 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.
> 
> 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.  
> 
>     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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Thank you to the developers and contributors for bringing an opensource
> accounting platform this far.  Greatly greatly appreciated.  
> 
> Any questions on the accounting side of things just drop me a line. 

It's the Accounts page because that makes for a smaller tab than "Chart of Accounts" would. It seems unlikely that anyone familiar with accounting would be at all confused... but if you'd rather have yours called "Chart of Accounts", right-click in the page and select "Rename Page" from the context menu.

The account name and description are duplicated only if you want them to be, but we're all about user choice: Click the down-arrow on the right side of the accounts page title bar and uncheck Description and check Type.

What report would you run on a single account? 

Regards,
John Ralls