[GNC] Register column sizing

[john]

With the exception of the Description field automatically resizing itself to fit the register in the window width, I think GnuCash does size columns the same way spreadsheets do: You put the pointer on the right-hand divider in the header and drag it, and double-click in the header to fit the width to the widest entry in that column. What do you think spreadsheets do differently?

Regards,
John Ralls


> On Jan 6, 2023, at 5:37 AM, Thomas Forrester <tlforrester at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I realize I'm answering a slightly different question, but I've never understood why the GnuCash developers have never made column sizing (and apparently hiding, too) work just like spreadsheets.  We already invented that wheel, and people are *really* accustomed to how it works, hence the grumbling when it's discovered by new GnuCash users that it doesn't work that way here.  I think the vast majority would agree that the way spreadsheet columns work is a very mature, and well understood "technology" (for lack of a better word) that has become ubiquitous and intuitive.  Note also that I said "spreadsheets" rather than, say, "Excel" because the way spreadsheet columns work isn't specific to any one spreadsheet program, and once again speaks to how universal handling spreadsheet columns has become.
> 
> My guess is that what you're asking is likely just fine, but isn't it just another band-aid that really would be better ripped off in favor of spreadsheet-like resizing logic?
> 
> Tom
> Thomas L. Forrester
> Middleton, WI USA
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 9:42 PM john <jralls at ceridwen.us <mailto:jralls at ceridwen.us>> wrote:
>> Users,
>> 
>> There have been occasional complaints for many years about column width sizing. See for e.g. https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=563588. Most users seem to eventually get used to it, but I wonder if anybody really likes it.
>> 
>> The problem boils down to the auto-sizing behavior of the Description column, which causes that column to grow or shrink when you adjust the window's width, and to make a horizontal scrollbar appear when you widen another column. Occasionally someone will complain about the normally hidden price column because it's possible to catch its handle and widen it when you mean to widen the balance column.
>> 
>> It would be really easy to turn off autosizing on the Description field and only a little work to figure out another way to handle the price and ditch that column. Would anyone miss it?
>> 
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>> 
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