https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=147326
--- Comment #3 from Robert Lacroix <ralacr...@hydro.mb.ca> --- The visual cortex is insanely faster at recognizing patterns than the conscious mind. To the user it feels like a video game. Blinkenlights empowers the user to see the spreadsheet more efficiently. > Let's start with a use case. A user wants to verify that a pattern of cell references occurs in formulas consistently across a group of cells, and that certain formulas in the group differ in a specific way. This is useful where frequent copying/pasting of cells can introduce mistakes, and when transposing may produce unexpected results. This is somewhat trivial for small spreadsheets, but is time-consuming and error-prone for larger spreadsheets. For very large sheets, it's better to unconditionally copy and paste a desired repeating formula pattern into the range, because that's faster and more reliable than visual inspection. Best of course would be to use protected cells, but that's not always desirable or feasible. Range formulas can be another solution, but they're not the easiest objects to work with and in my experience most people never use them. For a simple example, a column contains relative references forming a running calculation like a cumulative sum, and the first row contains a different formula pattern or a constant to initialize the calculation. The user wants to ensure that the relative formula in every rows is the same except the first row. With status quo, the user must go to each cell to see its formula. This displays a black-and-white cell formula in the input line, which the user must read and interpret. More visual feedback is provided by pressing F2 which adds coloured outlines to cell references and colours the corresponding references of the in-cell formula (but not the input line), at the cost of adding two more keystrokes for each cell examined. This is better but imperfect, however, since some outlines may be hidden by the in-cell editor, particularly when the in-cell formula covers multiple cells, and it adds the risk of inadvertently changing a formula. Simply colouring cell references in the input line the same as the in-cell editor would improve regular F2 edit mode, and that's essentially modification 3. The new hovering mode allows the user to scan the pointer down the column and watch as the pattern of coloured cell outlines follows the pointer down, remaining the same or momentarily jumping to a different shape or colour layout. This is extremely fast by virtue of relying on the user's inate ability to see disturbances in a pattern, much faster than using the higher-level brain functions of reading and understanding formulas. This basically automates the keystrokes of the manual F2 process but also protects the cells. The user validates the first formula in a group by inspection, then swipes the pointer through the range to see that other formulas use the same pattern. The fine motor control required of the user to swipe the mouse over the cells of interest can even be eliminated, if LO highlights the block of adjacent cells that share the same relative formula as the cell under the pointer. I realize as well that this will be fast, the user may want the page to scroll automatically when approaching the visible edge of the cells currently displayed. However, that's not part of this proof-of-concept. -- You are receiving this mail because: You are the assignee for the bug.
