I probably should have specified, Windows only software.
But thanks anyway.
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phil
Blume
Sent: 10 March 2010 15:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What do you use to draw your Harris Matrices?
Hi Graham
OmniGraffle is dead easy to use. See; http://www.omnigroup.com/
It is only available for OSX, which is another blessing, in my opinion.
Phil Blume
On 10 March 2010 09:30, Graham Sherwood <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
>
> This is a question to other commercial Archaeology units or any
> organisations whom create Harris Matrices.
>
>
>
> What software do you use to draw your Harris Matrices?
>
>
>
> Traditionally we have used Excel 2000 to draw a Harris Matrix. The grid
> squares and drawing tools are ideal for this purpose. The main difficulty
> is
> the limit to the size of the worksheet, means very large matrices have to
> be
> divided up into separate sheets. There are other problems like the process
> is very labour intensive.
>
> The last few years we have upgraded to Excel 2007 and hoped to use the
> larger spreadsheets (on the width) to create even bigger matrices.
>
> The problem we found was the drawing shapes and lines added, the matrix
> became unwieldy and sluggish, even on quite high-spec computers.
>
> Recently we have found random *.xlsx files corrupting for no apparent
> reason
> and subsequently losing their drawing shapes, hence connecting lines
> (stratigraphic relationships). In a small matrix is this not too much of a
> problem but imagine a site with 12,000 contexts its terrifying! Rewriting
> them is not possible. I have found ways around it such as opening the
> corrupted file in Open Office and converting it back to Excel 2000
version.
> That repairs some of the damage. The solution I can give to users is to
> save
> in Excel 97-2003 format not the new 2007, or just use the old Excel 2000
> application. Luckily the problem hasn't surfaced for this solution, so it
> appears to be a XLSX problem.
>
>
>
> Excel isn't ideal. What alternatives are there that you have used and
> found
> to work well?
>
> We have tried some of the software variants out there e.g. proleg but
found
> them cumbersome, especially when they insist on the matrix being correct
at
> all times, or insisting stratigraphic relationships be corrected before
the
> user can move on.
>
>
>
> Thanks, Graham
>
>
>
>
>
> Graham Sherwood
> IT Manager/Website Manager
> Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd
> Unit 54, Brockley Cross Business Centre, 96 Endwell Road, London SE4 2PD
> tel: 020 7639 9091
> fax: 020 7639 9588
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
> <http://www.pre-construct.com/> www.pre-construct.com
>
>
>
>
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