{"id":38,"date":"2016-04-09T00:46:27","date_gmt":"2016-04-09T00:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/?p=38"},"modified":"2016-04-27T22:38:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T22:38:16","slug":"the-bacon-bowl-excel-antipattern-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/?p=38","title":{"rendered":"The Bacon Bowl: Excel Antipattern #1"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anti-pattern\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia<\/a>: An <b>anti-pattern<\/b> is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually ineffective and risks being highly counterproductive<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/baconbowl.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-45\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-45 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/baconbowl-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Bacon Bowl - As Seen On TV!\" width=\"349\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/baconbowl-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/baconbowl-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/baconbowl.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 349px) 85vw, 349px\" \/><\/a>This little doo-hickey appeals to our inner child.\u00a0 It delights us with its audacious premise.\u00a0 <strong>It makes a BOWL! Out of BACON!<\/strong> Whaaaat? Gotta get one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6RYZ1Lfqfcw\" target=\"_blank\">and see if that works<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t\u00a0seen the Bacon Bowl advertised, its a rubber thing you wrap with bacon and microwave. \u00a0Skip forward to 10:20 minutes into this video\u00a0to see what the excitement is all about.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u_COFMlMo_s\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s be honest.\u00a0 Is there any reason to serve food in a bowl made of bacon?\u00a0 Cool trick. Fun to try. Bacon is always\u00a0delicious.<\/p>\n<p>But you don\u2019t need it.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_59\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Careers-Banner-SR-People-Looking-At-Computer-755x575.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-59\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-59 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Careers-Banner-SR-People-Looking-At-Computer-755x575-300x228.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Careers-Banner-SR-People-Looking-At-Computer-755x575-300x228.jpg 300w, http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Careers-Banner-SR-People-Looking-At-Computer-755x575.jpg 755w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-59\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;OMG is that SmartArt\u00a0on the splash screen?&#8221; Yeah. Amazing, right?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Excel is so versatile it can literally do almost anything.\u00a0 It&#8217;s easy to construct your own astonishing yet pointless &#8220;bacon bowl maker.&#8221; \u00a0Just take a feature that usually serves one purpose and\u00a0use it in a completely unexpected way with another feature &#8212; then show your co-workers.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a bar chart with only one bar that simulates\u00a0a progress bar. Just have your\u00a0VBA macro increment a cell as a data\u00a0source as it plods along. (Yeah, I did that. Guilty.) \u00a0Or a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Splash_screen\" target=\"_blank\">splash screen<\/a> that pops up when loading the workbook to let the user know that they just opened the workbook they just opened. \u00a0Do they\u00a0need it? No. Is it cool. Mighty cool. \u00a0(If you find yourself yearning to\u00a0try this, at least don&#8217;t make users click to\u00a0dismiss it. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ozgrid.com\/Excel\/excel-splash-screen.htm\" target=\"_blank\">OzGrid shows you how<\/a>\u00a0to make a form\u00a0kill itself after 5 seconds.)<\/p>\n<p>Knitting bloggers are prone to bacon-bowling: A sock with toes!\u00a0 Hats with pockets! Sweaters with attached mittens that button onto the sleeve! Both knitters and Excel pros have creativity, enthusiasm and unlimited possibilities. \u00a0The difference is knitters\u00a0don&#8217;t inflict their creations on their co-workers. \u00a0Just friends &amp; family. \u00a0But we Excel professionals\u00a0should be building spreadsheets to get things done efficiently. \u00a0We don&#8217;t need to\u00a0show off with tricks when we can dazzle with real productivity and insight.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/knittedlederhosen.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-49\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-49 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/knittedlederhosen-150x300.jpg\" alt=\"Knitted Lederhosen\" width=\"150\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/knittedlederhosen-150x300.jpg 150w, http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/knittedlederhosen.jpg 236w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 85vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>If you want to knit\u00a0these fabulous 1975 era knitted lederhosen &#8211; let your freak flag fly. \u00a0Or maybe you want to\u00a0use\u00a0the current date to apply seasonal color to spice up the order tracker for Janice in Accounting? \u00a0Resist the urge. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/store.hbo.com\/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver-janice-in-accounting-t-shirt\/detail.php?p=970549\" target=\"_blank\">You know why.<\/a> \u00a0Admittedly, I have dreamed of doing this. It would be fun. \u00a0Especially at Halloween. But I can&#8217;t justify it. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/xmasspreadsheet.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-51\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-51 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/xmasspreadsheet-300x124.png\" alt=\"This was designed for teaching schoolkids to learn Excel. Just for fun.\" width=\"300\" height=\"124\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/xmasspreadsheet-300x124.png 300w, http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/xmasspreadsheet-768x317.png 768w, http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/xmasspreadsheet-1024x422.png 1024w, http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/xmasspreadsheet.png 1115w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The difference between a frivolous gadget\u00a0and an elegant solution can be subjective.\u00a0 So although I could point out a few Excel \u201cbacon bowls\u201d out there on the blogs, to avoid hurt feelings (folks are proud of their inventions) I\u2019ll let you be the judge.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, I take it day by day. I&#8217;m still in bacon bowl recovery, learning to strip things\u00a0down to the essentials and keep the overall design\u00a0simple. \u00a0And then someone tweets a link to a blog post describing\u00a0a slider linked\u00a0to an array formula with a sound file that plays when no results are found in the filtered data and&#8230;.agggghhh! \u00a0I have to turn my head and go read a chapter of Edward Tufte&#8217;s &#8220;<i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edwardtufte.com\/bboard\/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00040Z\" target=\"_blank\">The Visual Display of Quantitative Information<\/a>&#8220;<\/i> until the urge passes.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: if a feature doesn\u2019t solve a real problem, it&#8217;s\u00a0probably not needed.\u00a0 Even if it *IS* cool.\u00a0 Your users will appreciate simplicity of design.<\/p>\n<a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcat5sheetstorm.com&amp;text=via%20Cat5Sheetstorm\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:48px;height:48px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" style=\"display: inline;width:48px;height:48px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/96x96\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=The%20Bacon%20Bowl%3A%20Excel%20Antipattern%20%231&amp;body=via%20Cat5Sheetstorm:%20http%3A%2F%2Fcat5sheetstorm.com\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:48px;height:48px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" style=\"display: inline;width:48px;height:48px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/96x96\/mail.png\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wikipedia: An anti-pattern is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually ineffective and risks being highly counterproductive This little doo-hickey appeals to our inner child.\u00a0 It delights us with its audacious premise.\u00a0 It makes a BOWL! Out of BACON! Whaaaat? Gotta get one and see if that works. If you haven&#8217;t\u00a0seen the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/?p=38\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Bacon Bowl: Excel Antipattern #1&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,5,7,8,6],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-antipattern","tag-bacon","tag-janice","tag-simple","tag-tufte"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cat5sheetstorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}