`Simple' spreadsheet program complicates some operations
Jim Shatz-Akin
Reviews / Spreadsheet Programs
Rating: Acceptable (3 of 5 mice)
THE INTENTIONS OF Casady & Greene's new program Let's K.I.S.S. (Let's Keep It Simple Spreadsheet) are admirable: It aims to be a spreadsheet program for the rest of us, without complicated equation syntax, arcane macros, and bells and whistles. It succeeds to a point, but in its laudable bid to shed complexity, it strips away some of the essential usefulness of a spreadsheet program as well.
Let's K.I.S.S. dispenses with standard spreadsheets' rows-and-columns arrangement of cells into which data and mathematical formulas are entered. Instead, it adopts a flowchartlike approach. You arrange tiles containing numbers, mathematical operators, and charting functions in a workspace window and then use your mouse to link them to specify the order of operations.
Let's K.I.S.S. comes with an impressive variety of preset templates and macros (dubbed Smart Operators) for personal-finance, basic statistics, geometry, and even a few engineering tasks. Once you've created a file, you pull the tiles you need from a set of tool bars: You create rows, columns, or arrays into which you'll enter data and then grab the various math operators. Complex operations can be built in a series of simpler math operations and then collapsed into a new Smart Operator you can save for reuse.
When you perform a math operation on a set of data, Let's K.I.S.S. automatically generates an appropriate results tile: If you've added up a column of numbers, the results tile contains a single entry, the sum; if you've asked for a percentage markdown on a price list of prices, the results tile will contain discounted counterparts to each number in your input tile. You can change entries in an input tile at any time, but results tiles cannot be edited, to prevent you from accidentally overwriting the results of a calculation.
Forcing you to segment operations in this way lessens the likelihood that you'll get lost in a tangle of nested equations, but it also prevents you from doing some desirable things: You may want to have a total at the bottom of a stack of numbers, but in Let's K.I.S.S., the numbers and sum must stay in separate tiles.
Let's K.I.S.S operator tiles include text blocks and tools for creating bar, pie, and scatterplot charts and line graphs. These tools are easy to use but inflexible. You have no control over color, for example, and text cannot be entered within a chart. You must place a text window on top of the chart if you wish to add any titles, labels, or notes.
Let's K.I.S.S. allows you to create multiple Reports, or views, in a single data file. Different views let you highlight data by hiding unneeded information. This is great for personal organization, but Let's K.I.S.S.'s limited graphics tools prevent professional presentations.
The Bottom Line
If you're bewildered by conventional spreadsheet programs and need a tool to help you analyze personal data, Let's K.I.S.S. may meet your needs. But if you need a tool for displaying information to number-crunching pros, Let's K.I.S.S. won't cut it.
