EHA_SD's avatar
EHA_SD
Icon for Advocate IV rankAdvocate IV
3 years ago
Status:
Done

Mixed messages from Power Query syntax checker

When adding a new column using Power Query the dialog box is actively checking for errors which is great, however, from a user experience point of view it is sending mixed messages and could be improved.

 

The first thing I see is the 'X' and and red background which initially leads me to believe there is an issue with the M code for the computed column, but only when I finish reading the message text do I realize that the M code is actually ok:

Showing both an 'X' with red background, and a green check with affirmative text at the same time is confusing, please improve this user experience.

2 Comments

  • Status changed:
    New
    to
    Done

    Hi EHA_SD ,

    It really looks confusing, but more of a feature improvement than a functional issue. In this scenario, you can create an idea here to improve this feature. It is a place for customers provide feedback about Microsoft Office products. What's more, if a feedback is high voted there by other customers, it will be promising that Microsoft Product Team will take it into consideration when designing the next version in the future.

     

    Best regards,

    Community Support Team_yanjiang

  • Yes, technically the issue does not prevent the user from creating a column in Power Query, but bad design and a bad user experience is still a functional issue. If the intent is to confuse the user then yes, the software is functioning as intended and it is a cosmetic feature request. It is a functional issue in that users will keep looking for errors in the M code and not finding any issues; it is wasting the user's time.

     

    I can follow blue prints exactly to build a life jacket out of concrete and then use that concrete life jacket as the designer intended (even if confusing), but that doesn't mean the life jacket is functioning well, and it is going to be a horrible user experience.

     

    Anyway, I have created the 'idea' here https://ideas.fabric.microsoft.com/ideas/idea/?ideaid=0447f54d-e914-ee11-a81c-000d3a0ec312

     

    Thank-you for your time.