Numerical Data Entry - Right To Left!?
Yarone Goren
quick & dirty Microsoft Access based application.
Today, while entering my hours, a coworker of mine pointed out that data
entry of numerical data was handled from right to left in Access (the cursor
remains on the right side of the text box, and the data is aligned with the
right side). I've always been aware of this, but I never actually thought
about it.
Is right-to-left data entry of numerical data considered "standard"? I took
a look at some applications I commonly use and got mixed results.
Anyone have any comments/insight regarding this issue?
.Yarone
Jonas Celebiler
What you are describing is not really "right to left" entry. The first digit
you enter ends up on the left, the second one to the right of it, and your last
digit ends up all the way on the right. So your digits are still being entered
left to right. It's simply that the field is right-justified (meaning aligned
to the right).
As to what's standard, my guess is that common spreadsheet applications probably
give you a choice of whether you want numbers to be right-justified or
left-justified.
Jonas
Jim Gross
Back about thirty-five or more years ago most calculating machines (actually,
they were adding machines) were mechanical or electro-mechanical. The early
adding machines had huge keyboards with 10 keys (zero through nine) for each
decimal place the machine could handle. Thus, a machine which could handle tens
of thousands would have 7 columns of 10 keys, or 70 keys! The operator would
press the digit keys for each number to add in the correct columns and then turn
a crank or pull a lever to enter each addend number. As the crank or lever was
operated, the depressed keys would pop back up and the number entered would be
added to the accumulated total. Some machines would also print the number
entered on a paper tape. If the machine were electro-mechanical instead of
purely mechanical the operator would press a button instead of operating a lever
or crank. The button would activate a motor to turn the machine through its
addition cycle.
These machines with their huge keyboards and numerous moving parts were quite
expensive. Someone realized that a less expensive machine could be built if the
same function could be performed with less keys. Thus, the ten key adding
machine was invented. Not only was the ten key adding machine cheaper to build,
it was also faster to operate for an experienced operator because the fingers
never needed to leave the keyboard. This machine had only one key for each of
the digits zero through 9. The keys were arranged in three rows of three keys
each: 1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9 and the zero key below. The zero key was extra wide.
Seems familiar? Look at the numeric keypad on your PC keyboard!
The earliest ten key machines had no display so the operator could not see what
had been entered until the entire number was printed on the paper tape.
However, it was known to every operator that the digit you entered was always
inserted in the rightmost decimal position and the previously entered digits
were shifted over one position to the left. This was required because the early
ten key adders had no decimal point key and always assumed monetary style
amounts with two places after the decimal point. If the digits were entered
from left to right, the machine would have to have had a decimal point key so
the user could indicate where to place the decimal point.
As more and more electronic (and less mechanical) machines appeared, some
sported displays that showed what digits had been entered before the operating
key was pressed to enter the number. These machines conformed to what adding
machine operators already knew was going on: digits inserted on the right
shifting prior digits to the left. When electronic calculators first appeared,
there was a disconnect. The calculators were designed to do more than just
addition and subtraction. They multiplied and divided and the really fancy
scientific ones did squares and square roots, logarithms, trigonometric
functions and more. These machines did have decimal point keys so users could
enter floating point numeric expressions, not just fixed monetary style
numbers. They accepted digits entered from left to right.
However, by now a whole class of people who dealt with figures, bookkeepers,
bankers, accountants and cashiers, had grown accustomed to the adding machine
style functionality of digits entering on the right and shifting to the left.
So, the first electronic financial terminals including the first ATMs all
maintained the adding machine illusion of digits entering on the right and
shifting left. When I was with NCR back in the '70s this was called "teller
decimal" style display.
Today there is no technical reason why numbers should be entered in the "teller
decimal" style as opposed to left to right. There is no technical problem with
using a decimal point key and most people alive today have never used an
electro-mechanical adding machine, or haven't used one in more than 20 years
anyway. But, old habits die hard and I guess some people still really resent
having to punch an "unnecessary" decimal point key, although they don't seem to
mind having to hit the zero key twice for whole numbers! (Some of the old
adding machines actually had double zero keys, but that's long disappeared.)
Is right-to-left data entry of numerical data considered "standard"? Years ago
it was "standard" for a man to always put on a hat when going outdoors and to
take it off when coming indoors. Once, men's bathing suits were two-piece
affairs with tank tops and shorts; bare chests were definitely non-standard.
Once, men and women wore riding boots or knickers and high socks to protect
their clothing when going "motoring" (driving in a car) due to the prevalence of
muddy dirt roads and the frequency of "flivvers" breaking down. Whoever
designed the right-to-left number entry field in Access is probably an aging
baby boomer like me. Give it another ten or twenty years and right-to-left
entry for numbers will go the way of men's hats, tank top bathing suits and
Model Ts.
Yarone Goren wrote:
> In an attempt to keep track of my time on various projects, I created a
> quick & dirty Microsoft Access based application.
>
> Today, while entering my hours, a coworker of mine pointed out that data
> entry of numerical data was handled from right to left in Access (the cursor
> remains on the right side of the text box, and the data is aligned with the
> right side). I've always been aware of this, but I never actually thought
> about it.
>
> Is right-to-left data entry of numerical data considered "standard"? I took
> a look at some applications I commonly use and got mixed results.
>
> Anyone have any comments/insight regarding this issue?
>
> .Yarone
Jeff Bangle
calculations. It is standard practice to align the numbers so that the
decimal points line up. For integers, this results in
right-justification.
The computer doesn't know how many digits each number has until the user
presses the Enter or Tab key. By filling number fields from right to
left, fields that appear in columns, such as spreadsheets, don't need to
be reformatted when the user leaves the field. This doesn't save much
CPU time, but the display doesn't "jump" when the user leaves the field.
Instead of right-justification, I've also seen "decimal tabs" where a
number of decimal places is specified for the field (Microsoft Word also
has them). As the user starts entering data, the digits appear just to
the left of where the decimal will appear and shift to the left as they
are entered. When the user presses the period key, the decimal point
appears. Subsequent numbers appear to the right of the decimal point
and fill in to the right.
Jody's
user can quickly scan a column of figures and compare them more easily. If
the numbers were left aligned, and for example you had:
12223
123
1223
In this case, the 'one' can either represent 100, 1000 or 10,000 even though
they appear lined up beneath each other. However, if they are right
aligned, the most imporant part of the number (ie the largest part) is more
easily identified as it stands out:
123
12223
1223
After all, in the left aligned example, the user can see that the top number
is larger, but they have to scan over to the left to see by how much it is
bigger. In the majority of cases the user would be interested that one
value was over 12,000 more than the other one.
So in the principle of making the most important data stand out, numerical
data is normally right-aligned (unless of course there is an overriding
reason not to).
Fiona Bremner
Senior UI Designer
Yarone Goren wrote in message ...
Mattias Engdegård
doesn't necessary imply it has to be entered that way.
The only advantage of right-aligned numerical entry is its statelessness: at
any moment, the entry field contains a correctly aligned number. But is this
an advantage? Halfway through typing 4711 the display will contain 47, but
this bears no interesting numerical relation to the actual goal.
I bought a pocket calculator some 14 years ago, one of the early to have a
cursor and left-to-right entry instead of the usual 7-segment right-aligned
model. I immediately felt that this made it easier to use.
The usual left-to-right entry also mimics how text and digits are written
by hand. It is uncommon to keep the pen still and move the paper.
