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I have a dilemma that I've encountered before. What's the best in terms of usability when one displays personal names in a table? Should there be a single column for the name? If so, is "firstname lastname" or "lastname, firstname" preferable? Or would a column for "firstname" and a column for "lastname" be best? I'm thinking in terms of the user's desire to sort the columns. I like having a column for each name component because I can imagine that in some cases the first name will be more important to the user whereas in other cases the last name would be more important.
I would assume that many out there have had this dilemma and am looking for pearls of wisdom based on past experience.
953
You should give your users the option of sorting by either one. Some cultures and people use first names more, and so that is usually the name that they know when looking someone up. Others use last name more, and so they should be able to sort by that.
In the 'Sort by' option, select the name of the column that just has the last name. In the 'Sort On', select 'Cell Values' In the Order option, select 'A to Z' Click OK.
In the pop-up Advanced Sort dialog, select the column you want to sort, choose Last name from Sort On drop down list, specified the sort order from the Order drop down list, and click the Ok button. See screenshot: So far the full name column has been sorted by last name at once.
However, if you write your surname first, always put comma so that readers can identify it as such. For example, if you write *John, James* a reader will know that John is your surname and James is your first name. Another acceptable practice is — you write your surname in caps and keep the first name in lower keys.
Definitely have a column for each part. That gives you much more flexibility. So you could sort by surname, but print "firstname surname", for example.
76
If you don't have the screen real estate to have a column for each part, you can combine them into a single string whose format represents the sorting order. Each click on the column header cycles to the next sort order. For example:
Bimbleman, Wally P.
Zonkenstein, Arnold Q.
Zonkenstein, Arnold Q.
Bimbleman, Wally P.
Arnold Q. Zonkenstein
Wally P. Bimbleman
Wally P. Bimbleman
Arnold Q. Zonkenstein
Easier to read an entire name this way (vs. having it span across columns), takes up less screen real estate, and frees you from having to decide upon a single format & sort.
36
As far as I know, each country has Its own rules to Sort the names, some countries have the uses of do it By First name, and some by Last Name, I believe that the right answer here is, what is about your app? how many users will appear on those columns? And which users (age/nationality/context) are going to use your app?
45
Really, I agree with Skilldrick - a good UI has at least separate columns for first and last names...
But don't forget that CONSISTENCY in a UI is actually more important and makes things usable: giving the end user an implied expectation of how things are done.
34
You might consider calling the fields "Given Name" and "Family Name" to account for people who put their family name first. Of course this doesn't cover everyone (some people only have a given name) but it might reduce potential confusion with Chinese and Japanese names, for example.
37
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