Sterling Ambivalence (sterlingnorth) wrote,
Sterling Ambivalence
sterlingnorth

I can't make a table in a spreadsheet...

Here is something I just can't do. I can not make a table by using a spreadsheet. Just can't do it.

I was asked by someone to make a table listing a menu of what is being served for the week. I shocked him by launching WordPerfect, and gridding a table through the word processor.

Why not open the spreadsheet and use the pre-existing gridded layout?

Unfortunately, that pre-existing grid gets in my way. I can't visualize a new grid over it. I'd imagine it'd take too much effort to pound the grid in Excel (or Quattro Pro, which is the WordPerfect equivalent) to look like the table in my head. Thus it is far easier for me to take a blank sheet of paper (or the blank screen in WordPerfect) and create my own table.

In fact I'm amazed by people who use spreadsheets to make non-numeric tables and lists. (And I'm fine with using spreadsheets for mathematic applications. I'm not bothered with the figuring out the layout until after the numbers are typed in. Plus, the numbers tend to determine the layout.)
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