Chapter 12. Effective Display Techniques

A computer screen is a small two-dimensional space. The concepts and information displayed in this space are complex and multi-dimensional. It takes planning and careful design to produce a display that represents the information completely and is still easy to understand.

Each application exists for a reason. The display provides information used to manage an operation, identify problems, or plan for improvements. The quality of decisions made by the application's users depends on the quality of the display.

A person can only focus on a small amount of information at one time, and a display can easily overwhelm the viewer. A critical piece of information can vanish in a pile of numbers, or an important conclusion can be overlooked in a disorganized presentation. It is not enough to simply show the user the data; to be useful, an application must answer the user's questions.

Excel is good with numbers. Numeric information doesn't take up much space in the system, is easy to manipulate, and can be formatted any way you like. It is also difficult to understand. An effective display must highlight the important relationships in the data, and explain what those relationships mean.

A good display is easy to use and understand. If it takes a lot of effort to learn to use or understand an application, some users won't bother.