I have been designing pre-trade, trading, and research applications for financial institutions for a number of years, and negative values have been handled in a number of fairly consistent ways, based on user feedback and also the standard for certain types of reports in a given business venue:
-- Negative sign before the number -- Parenthesis before the number These are typically paired with a color that imparts an immediate meaning to the user (red), provided the user is not color-blind or on a poor quality monitor. However the color palette is defined so that colors will all have distinct values for the three types of color-blindness so they still have recognition and meaning for color-blind users (which I have encountered at just about every bank I have consulted at). When it comes to the printed report, or the data as exported to Excel, PDF, HTML, TXT, CSV, the negative numbers are typically shown with parentheses. The red color may be retained, but the general thought is that a color printer is less likely throughout various environment, and the parens would impart the most value and understood meaning. Users may also have their own color needs and will therefore make their own adjustments as needed. I would not leave the use of negative signs, color, and parens up to a user preference, mainly because the specificity of the presentation across not just one application but several precludes the one user preference for display. I would not leave the use of negative signs, color, and parens up to a user preference, mainly because the specificity of the presentation across not just one application but several precludes the one user preference for display. Also, remember to right-align your numbers and align according to the number, not the parens. I guess what I am saying is that these are the typical means used in any financial institution I have designed for, and the nuances have tended to be a result of user testing and a consistency applied across an application suite. -----Original Message----- >From: Jeff lippiatt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Apr 14, 2008 9:55 AM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Usability and Standards for Formatting Negative >Numbers? > >I am currently doing some research before I make a suggestion for how this >information should be displayed. Of the known formats I know that using >parenthesis () around the number or using the minus sign in front of the >number can be used. I have also seen both of these variations with the >numbers displaying in red. > >I was just looking to get some feedback or possible resources that might >have more information or research that backs it one way or the other so I >can be more informed with this decision. Thank you for your feedback and >time in advance. >________________________________________________________________ >Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
