Here is the interview with John Walkenbach. John is famous excel personality. He has authored 50 excel books, numerous articles and has one of most popular excel related sites – spreadsheetpage.
PS: Thanks to PHD readers for suggesting interview questions to ask John. I really appreciate your help in putting this together. Unfortunately, I couldnt ask all the questions, but I have included as many as possible.
Q: Excel 2003 or 2007?
I have both versions installed on my system. I keep 2003 around only to answer questions that are specific to that version. Although it has some problems, I much prefer Excel 2007. A lot of it is aesthetic. Excel 2007 looks good, Excel 2003 doesn’t. And besides, I have a difficult time remembering where the commands are located on the 2003 menu system.
Your 3 favorite formulas?
I hate these kinds of questions. My favorite formula is the one that gets the job done — so it changes all the time. But if you ask what is the most impressive formula I’ve ever written, it would be that multicell array formula that displays a calendar for any month. I spent hours working on that one. Click on the link to see it.
If I were going to be buried, I would like that formula inscribed on my tombstone. But it would probably be inscribed wrong, and everyone would wonder why the formula on my tombstone produces a #NAME! error.
Which books / resources would you recommend for an excel newbie, excel intermediate user and excel pro?
I can only recommend my own books because I’ve never read any other Excel books. I’ve paged through a few, but I’ve actually never read one. So…
Newbie: Excel Bible
Intermediate: Excel Bible
Pro: Excel Formulas
Is there a point in learning excel, in the era of web spreadsheets and powerful drag-and-drop analytical apps?
Absolutely. Excel is going to be with us for a long time. Count on it.
Excel is great – we would all agree – but what is the worst & best use of Excel you have seen?
I’m of the opinion that there is no “bad” use for Excel. If you do something that’s not normally done in Excel — and it works and is adequately scalable for your needs — that’s great. It’s certainly possible that more efficient methods exist, but that needs to be balanced with the time need to learn how to use those more efficient methods. For example, I keep my customer data in an Excel workbook. Probably 90% of the experts would tell me to use Access or some other database software for this application. But it works just fine for me, and it means I don’t have to spend time learning to be proficient in Access.
What is the future of Excel & spreadsheet software?
I have no idea. I don’t spend much time thinking about such things. Microsoft often surprises me with what that put into Excel. But they also frustrate me by not doing things that they should have done years ago. It’s nice that Excel is finally getting some competition once again, in the form of open source and online spreadsheet apps.
How did you learn to write such clear and easy to understand code?
I had a few programming courses in college, but I don’t think they really helped much in terms of what I do today. I think I just have a knack for putting myself in the shoes of others, and explaining things as clearly and concisely as possible. My writing is based on two guiding principles: Keep it simple, and teach through illustrative examples that can be expanded upon by the reader.
When Excel 5 came out, I was excited about the VBA programming language, so I gave myself an assignment to learn it: Write a set of Excel utilities. And that was PUP 1.0. The first version was loosely based on the XLM-based “Barnes Utilities.” PUP is now in version 7, and I’m still learning things.
Your tips for people learning VBA?
Start with something simple, but also meaningful to you. Then, gradually expand it — testing at every step of the way.
When you need to use an unfamiliar property or method, create a small “experimental” procedure for testing. Play around with it until you’re comfortable. Then incorporate it you’re your actual project.
You should also take the time to learn how to use tools such as the Object Browser, the Immediate Window, and Step mode. And always declare your variables.
When trying to display a simple dot using shapes, I only found the “msoval” object to do this, but with poor results… is there a hidden “dot” object in VBA ?
This seems to work OK:
Sub MakeDot()
Dim Dot As Shape
Set Dot = ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeOval, 20, 20, 4, 4)
With Dot
.Fill.ForeColor.SchemeColor = 8
.Line.Visible = msoFalse
End With
End Sub
Is there a way to add tooltips to shapes (when mouseover for example ?) ?
Not officially, but you can sort of fake it.
Create the shape. Then run a VBA procedure that assigns an empty string to the shape’s Hyperlink.Address property, and specifies a ScreenTip for the hyperlink. For example:
Sub SetTootipForShape()
Dim s As Shape
Set s = ActiveSheet.Shapes(1)
s.Hyperlink.Address = ""
s.Hyperlink.ScreenTip = "This shape has a tooltip"
End Sub
When the mouse pointer moves over the shape, the tooltip appears. Clicking the shape has no effect.
Note that you cannot assign an empty string manually, via the Hyperlink dialog box.
Are you still cold-brewing coffee? If not, how come?
Off and on. I broke my original cold brew glass jar, so that put an end to it for a while. Then I bought another one and used it for a while. I’ll probably go back to it at some point, just because it’s so convenient to have fresh-tasting coffee without having to brew a pot.
When will we see the introduction of the “banjo” chart in Excel?
As soon as Jon Peltier stops writing about charts. He would certainly disapprove of a banjo chart because of its resemblance to a pie chart. For people who don’t read my J-Walk Blog… I’ve become obsessed with learning old-time clawhammer style banjo during the past three years.
Your tips for bloggers of the world
I have nothing new to add. Just same old stuff: Post a lot, understand your readers, pay attention to layout and design, go easy on the ads, avoid all of those useless widgets, and don’t take yourself too seriously.
Your advice for people who make excel add-ins, excel based products.
I think the most common question I get from would-be add-in programmers is: “How can I protect my work so it won’t be stolen.” The answer is, you can’t. There will always be people who want to steal your work, and they will. But, for the most part, these people would not have purchased your product anyway. With my PUP add-in, I make the VBA code available for a small fee. Amazingly, I haven’t seen any other commercial add-ins that have incorporated my code. They might exist; I just haven’t seen them.
Thank you John for your informative and entertaining interview.
Tell me who else should be interviewed and I will ask them.
Also, Read our earlier interview with Charley Kyd.
25 Responses to “Display Alerts in Dashboards to Grab User Attention [Quick Tip]”
I prefer the red,grey,light grey,black icon set. I've also used in-cell pie charts from Fabrice's Sparklines for Excel as an alert which could also provide another piece of information.
I prefer the red,grey,light grey,black icon set. I've also used in-cell pie charts from Fabrice's Sparklines for Excel as an alert which can also provide another piece of information.
For Excel 2007, your formula should do the same as the Excel 2003 version, so that non-alert rows are blank - if they are 0, the unnecessary green icon will show
Hi Chandoo,
Nice Post !! just to add something for EXL 2003, we can also 4 Ifs and link to the alert data
For Ex: If we have alert data in Cell A2 and want to split in 4 orders namely <25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75%< then we can following formula and put fonts as you have suggested :
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
And then using Conditional Formating we can dashboard reflected on different COLOURS as per their respective alert.
Best Regards
Rohit1409
Hi Chandoo,
Nice Post !!! just to add something for EXL 2003, we can also 4 Ifs and link to the alert data
For Ex: If we have alert data in Cell A2 and want to split in 4 orders namely <25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75%< then we can following formula and put fonts as you have suggested :
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
And then using Conditional Formating we can dashboard reflected on different COLOURS as per their respective alert.
Best Regards
Rohit1409
The Complete formula [Don't Know how it got cut ]
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
PS : Use in single line [I have split it to avoid cuts 😉 ]
Hi Chandoo..
why it is not displaying the complete formula..
anyways here is the balance
"=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153), IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155), IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))"
@Rohit... your formulas are fine. Just that the width of comment area is fixed and hence my website is cropping it at 640pixels. I just edited your formula and added few white spaces so that it wraps nicely.
Very good idea btw.. kudos!
Hi,
Maybe just go for 'bold' ; 'underline' or 'italic' to draw the users attention? Those methods (if those can be called methods) are used cross media type (books, journals, blogs, billboards, ...) to guide the readers eye to valuable information.
Just a basic thought
@Tom.. good idea..
[...] has a very nice writeup on how to add such alerts to dashboard sheets. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Divide your data set into workbooksHow to enforce [...]
Hi Chandoo,
You certainly grabbed my attention! although I wasn't sure what my brother (Suresh) and cousin (Shyam) were doing right, and I was doing wrong? 😉
I love your blog btw - Many thanks for all your hard work in unravelling the secrets and mysteries of Excel!
Best regards
Ramesh
I thought I saw an advertisment for a book about learning excel called excel himalaya or something. It cost about 35.00 us money but seemed to have the things I need to have my admin assistant to start to use. I was hoping to start with this book and then send her to school if she shows some interest and aptitude. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks
Great web site and information!!!!
@Jeff... checkout http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/08/25/excel-everest-review/
thanks, your website is awesome!
[...] Alerts to highlight focus areas [...]
[...] There are lots of numbers in this dashboard. I would suggest adding few more visualizations like showing indicators or applying conditional formatting or replacing a table with a chart. This would reduce the [...]
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
Hi Chandoo
Firstly thanks for all the cool tips on how to use Excel better.
I am new to the site and have a question which you may be able to assist with but dont know if these comment boxes are the best way of asking ?
I am looking at assets and trying to calculate the depreciation total by taking a year (say 2010) adding the expected life of the asset (say 10 years) then comparing that to a future date (say 2015) using an IF statement. The calculation in normal is - IF((year in col B (2010) plus 10years)>year 2015, add a years depreciation, otherwise leave blank). The converted date value does not appear able to add 10 years in order to compare it to 2015. Am I missing something ?
I use the “IF” Statement in conjunction with Conditional Formatting in MS Excel to give verbiage to alert one of a required action, dependant on a review date. This makes a visual stimulus, plus it clues one as to what the conditional format is trying to warn you about and what follow-up actions are required.
Wow, I'm really impressed with dashboards. I had no idea this stuff was even possible with excel. I'd like to offer an interactive dashboard to my customers, showing analytics of their data. I have a .pdf file with the datapoints. I'd like them to enter the data on my website, and be able to see their data. Is something like that possible.
Hi Chandoo,
I've recently purchased the package for both templates.
In the portfolio dashboard,under the calculations worksheet, I'm attempting to change the date range in the gantt chart to show only the range of the project that starts in late 2013. How do I do this?
Thanks
Adam
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
Hi Chandoo,
I'm new at Excel Dashboard and found your blog really useful and helpful! It's very nice of you that you dedicate your time to do this.
Could you please explain how can I use Alerts based on dates on a Dashboar?
For example, if a target date is coming closer to the actual date, the alert is yellow or red.
I'd really appreciate some help!
Thank you
Where can I download the file Excel of Averall Statistics ???
Thanks a lot.