Excel has been the king of Macintosh spreadsheet applications since it was first released in the early days of Macintosh. Every new spreadsheet program that comes along must compare itself to Excel; that explains why there are not too may other Macintosh spreadsheet programs to choose from.
When Lotus 1-2-3 on PC compatibles was the name of the game, Excel crashed the party by arriving on Macintosh. Now that Windows (or Windoze) has gained popularity for those same PC compatibles, Excel is there, too, as the leading spreadsheet application. Version 4 is the latest evolution for both Macintosh and Windows; let’s take a look at how it differs from version 3 and remind ourselves why so many love it.
The Basics
Excel is still a basic spreadsheet application at its heart; it has rows and columns to fill with numbers and formulas. For those who just have to know, the maximum spreadsheet size is 16,384 rows by 256 columns and each cell can hold up to 1024 characters for formulas (255 for text). There are 310 functions and 440 macros. Data can be read or saved in a number of formats including all Excel version formats, dBASE, Lotus 1-2-3, symbolic link, text, and comma separated values.
Microsoft makes extensive use of core program code that is shared by both the Windows and Macintosh versions (it does this with Word too). This is handy for Microsoft because they only have to write special code to cover the different interfaces and the manual can be the same because the features are the same. It’s not so great for Macintosh users as we are limited to the least common denominator of Windows and Macintosh, and most of the time we’re on the short end of that comparison. Microsoft has also developed a reputation for breaking so many Macintosh programming rules in this common core code that it is unusual for Microsoft products such as Word or Excel to work correctly when Apple updates its hardware or system software.
The New Stuff
There is no need to go over old ground about Excel here. You all know the basic features of spreadsheets, and you know that Excel includes charting and database tools. Let’s look at what’s new in version 4; there are lots of new features.
Moving ranges of data is easier now, as you can just drag the range by its gray border. Using the Option key copies while moving. It’s also faster to move around the spreadsheet now that the Goto command remembers the last four locations selected using this command.
The new spelling checker can operate on spreadsheet, macro, and chart data. It’s not clear whether Excel can use Word dictionaries; that would be a nice feature and save disk space and confusion.
Spreadsheets can be viewed at different levels of magnification. Zoom in and zoom out commands are available from the utility toolbar or in a dialog from a menu selection. In addition to the old way of splitting the spreadsheet view into multiple panes, the Freeze Pane command will freeze a portion of the spreadsheet and handle scrolling for you. If you have many spreadsheets open at once, the new Arrange command gives you several options for stacking, tiling, or synchronizing them.
The help system for Excel is very convenient and powerful; balloon help is fully implemented and gives reasonably good hints. The help window is complete and provides an index as well as a search feature. Almost every dialog box in Excel includes a help button that takes you straight to the help page dealing with that dialog or alert. You can even select the help tool from the toolbar and point at what you need help with; one click sends you to the proper page in the help window.
If you have ever struggled to center text across several columns, such as at the top of a page, you’ll love the Center Text Over Columns command. Just select the columns and give the command; the text is properly centered!
The cell notes that Excel has always provided have been improved with the addition of sound. You can import sound files or record them yourself if you have the necessary recording hardware.
Analyze Your Data
Data anaylsis has been a strong feature of Excel since version 3. Version 4 continues the tradition by adding the scenario manager. For “what if” studies, you can create sets of input data to represent different possible conditions. The scenario manager will allow you to create multiple results from this input and view the differences on screen or with a report.
If you have statistical or engineering data to crunch, the new Analysis ToolPak included with Excel will make your day. Such complex tools as Anova: two-factor without replication correlation, covariance, moving averages, regression, and fourier analysis give users new power.
The Wizard of Charts
In a glimpse of intelligent agents to come, Excel’s ChartWizard guides you through the steps necessary to create a chart. Each step results in a dialog of choices with a help button in each to keep you on track. If you don’t like where you’re going, the back button lets you change your mind. You can, of course, create the chart on your own, but new users will like the help offered by the ChartWizard.
When editing a chart, Excel displays a new toolbar allowing you to easily edit, format, or change charts. There are also more charts types to chose from, including 3-D surface area, 3-D bars, and radar charts. 3-D charts can be modified by dragging handles to change the angle of viewing. A dialog box is available as well which allows more precise control.
A Database Wizard, Too
Just as the ChartWizard helps new users create charts of their data, the ReportWizard helps too. Creating crosstab reports is a powerful way to display data; for example a sales report could be summarized by product, region, and month. Just as the ChartWizard leads the charting process, ReportWizard offers a series of dialog boxes to guide you when creating crosstab reports.
Not Changed
Some old Excel features were not changed, but should have been. Fonts are still selected from a separate dialog box, not a menu on the menu bar as you would expect. The font listing in this dialog does not format itself well for those using many PostScript fonts, as you see the cryptic PostScript names instead of the hierarchical menus that Adobe Type Reunion or Now Menus provide. The same is true in the popup menu on the formatting toolbar. It makes presentations needing several fonts a real pain.
Still only 16 colors! With all those 24-bit monitors out there, why?
The toolbars. Now I admit that this is a personal thing, but the Excel (Word, too) toolbars are ugly and unMacintosh-like. They are Windows-like, but who wants that?
Microsoft insists on doing things their way; as successful as they have been its hard to argue sometimes. But why does Excel have that prompt area at the bottom of the screen? It blocks the aliases I have on my desktop. They also use non-standard command key combinations. I must admit that they are getting better, though.
Overall
Basically, this is a strong upgrade, adding features that many will find useful. The Wizard tools are a great help to new or infrequent users. Powerful analysis tools make Excel the leader it has always been.
But the cost of upgrading is high; mail order companies want $95. Microsoft has been accused in the past of unfair upgrade pricing. The Macintosh community has become familiar with very low-priced upgrades except for major revisions. The Word 5.0 to 5.1 upgrade was only $14.95; maybe Microsoft is listening. In the end, users must judge the value of the upgrade to them versus the cost.
The article above is reprinted from Mac Monitor, the newsletter of The Savannah Macintosh Users Group. It may be reprinted in a single issue of newsletters published by non-profit user groups. Payment shall consist of a single issue of the newsletter in which the article appears, sent to the following address:
