6.2 KiB
UI parity
Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-10 · Change: major (created from a source audit and the issue tracker) · Target: Microsoft Excel (Microsoft 365), Excel for Mac 16.113.4
Interaction, controls and feel, against Excel. Part of target-app-parity.md. UI/UX fidelity: ~55% ready, 50–80 h (estimated). Ribbon command coverage is measured separately in parity-checklist.md (258 / 290).
Sources: crates/ui-egui/src (ribbon, grid, editor, formula bar, dialogs, panes),
crates/engine/src/cmd (shortcuts in command specs), the owner's black-box notes
(plan/excel/observed-ui.md, local only) and user issues.
Window and chrome
| Element | Excel | GridCraft | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title bar, Quick Access Toolbar, AutoSave toggle | yes | yes | done; macOS window controls misaligned (#170), Dock icon size (#169) |
| Ribbon: tabs, groups, split buttons, galleries, contextual tabs | yes | yes (Table Design, Chart Design, Format, PivotTable tabs) | done; missing contextual tabs for pictures, shapes, sparklines, header/footer, slicers |
| Ribbon collapse, simplified ribbon, customize ribbon/QAT | yes | partial | customization missing (File ▸ Options is the one missing File command) |
| Key tips (Alt / F10 then letters) | yes, every ribbon control | initial (#43, 10-10): Alt or F10 shows key tips on Home for alignment, Paste Special and AutoFit plus legacy Alt sequences; other tabs and controls not yet (#33, #49) | 3–5 h |
| Formula bar with Name Box, expand, function hints | yes | yes | done |
| Sheet tabs: rename, reorder, colour, hide, scroll | yes | yes | rename focus bug on macOS (#145) |
| Status bar: Sum/Count/Average and more, view buttons, zoom | yes | yes | customizable statistics partial |
| Task panes (Format Chart, Comments, Watch, Selection, PivotTable fields) | yes | yes | element-level Format pane for shapes and pictures missing |
| Backstage (File) view: Info, New with templates, Open recent, Export, Options | yes | partial | Options dialog and template gallery missing |
| Dark mode, system appearance | yes | yes | done (10-09) |
| Page Layout view (paper view with rulers and header editing) | yes | no (Page Break Preview only) | 8–12 h |
| Multiple windows per workbook | yes | no (#162) | see hardware-parity.md |
Grid interaction
| Behaviour | Status |
|---|---|
| Click/drag/Shift/Ctrl selection, multi-area selection | rectangular drag works in one direction only in some cases (#28) |
| Fill handle: drag to fill series, double-click to fill down, right-drag menu | fill done; right-drag menu missing |
| Drag-move and drag-copy cells (border drag, Ctrl/Option, Shift to insert) | done (M3) |
| In-cell editing, Enter/Tab movement, Alt/Option+Enter line breaks | done |
| Point mode (click/drag/arrow references), reference colouring, F4 | done |
| AutoComplete in columns, function autocomplete and argument tips | done |
| Header resize and double-click AutoFit | done (#42, #88 for header dividers) |
| Freeze panes, split panes | freeze done; split to verify |
| Copy as HTML table for other apps | done (#36, 10-10) |
| Context menu on cells | 16 items (Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste Special, Insert, Delete, Clear Contents, Filter by value, Sort, New Comment, New Note, Format Cells, Pick From Drop-down List, Define Name, Link). Missing: Insert Copied/Cut Cells (#21), paste-option icons, Quick Analysis, Get Data from Table, Show Changes, Smart Lookup |
| Move and resize charts, pictures and shapes | charts can't be resized (#190) |
| Context menus on row/column headers, sheet tabs, charts, shapes | headers and tabs done; objects partial |
| Quick Analysis (Ctrl+Q) | missing |
| Smooth scrolling, scrollbars | done; vertical scrollbar added 10-09 (#73); horizontal scrollbar reported missing (#176) |
| Text overflow into empty neighbours, wrap, rotation, shrink to fit | done |
Keyboard
| Area | Excel | GridCraft |
|---|---|---|
| Shortcuts bound to commands | 200+ documented shortcuts per platform | 59 command shortcuts plus grid and editor keys (55 distinct keys handled in ui-egui) |
| Ctrl+arrow, Ctrl+Shift+arrow, Ctrl+Home/End, Page Up/Down, Alt+Page | yes | done |
| Ctrl+1, Ctrl+; and Ctrl+Shift+; , Ctrl+D/R, Ctrl+E, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+K, Ctrl+Shift+L | yes | most done; audit pending |
| F2, F4, F5, F9 family, Shift+F3, F11 | yes | most; F11 chart sheet missing (no chart sheets) |
| Mac-specific (Cmd variants, Fn keys) | yes | Cmd mapping done |
| Requests | — | #110 (more shortcuts and hot keys), #33 (sequential Alt; initial support landed in #43) |
Work: a shortcut table generated from the command catalog checked against Microsoft's published shortcut lists for Windows and Mac, then fill the gaps: 6–10 h.
Dialogs
Format Cells, Insert Function/Formula Builder, Find and Replace, Go To and Go To Special, Sort, Name Manager, Data Validation, Paste Special, Conditional Formatting manager, Page Setup, Goal Seek, Scenario Manager and others exist. Missing or partial: Options, Solver, Data Analysis, Forecast Sheet, Power Query editor, Insert Object, Equation editor, Protect/Allow Edit Ranges, Workbook Links, Accessibility checker.
Accessibility
AccessKit is enabled, but the grid, ribbon and dialogs are not exposed as an accessible tree with cell addresses and values, so screen readers can't navigate a sheet; there is no high-contrast theme or accessibility checker. Excel is strong here. 12–18 h.
Feel
Pixel comparison against Excel screenshots hasn't been run since M1; fonts depend on the system (no Calibri; Carlito would match metrics, #29, #4, #168 for weights); icons are GridCraft's own by rule and will never match Office's, by design.
Work (50–80 h)
Key tips 3–5 · shortcut audit 6–10 · context menus and Quick Analysis 5–8 · Page Layout view 8–12 · Options dialog and ribbon/QAT customization 6–10 · accessibility 12–18 · selection and scrollbar bugs 2–4 · pixel/feel pass against observed Excel 7–12.
Revision history
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Chart resize bug (#190) |
| 2026-10-10 | major | Created: chrome, grid, keyboard, dialogs, accessibility; key tips, Page Layout view and accessibility tree flagged |