Conditional Formatting Can Tell A Story!
Help give your data a purpose!
Reading text is naturally a left-to-right process. Reading spreadsheets, however, can be a bit chaotic without guidance.
Conditional formatting is a great tool to help guide reader’s eyes!
Check out this Christmas list below. Where are your eyes naturally drawn?
Did you look at the column names first? If so, you aren’t alone! The column name cells have color and are bolded, drawing attention to them.
Now, let’s add some conditional formatting to see what happens…
Did your eyes naturally gravitate to the orange and yellow cells first? That is the magic of conditional formatting!
When developing spreadsheets, it’s important to remember the data has a story to tell. You can help tell the story with conditional formatting!
In the Christmas list above, gifts are not to exceed $50, so we have highlighted those that broke the rule in orange. Also, we are telling the reader that those highlighted in yellow have not yet been received. With conditional formatting, our reader doesn’t need to search for the purpose of the spreadsheet…it naturally shows it to them.
