A common usability issue involves users moving modal windows around the screen when these windows obscure data on the worksheet they are trying to interact with. On a sheet where most of the visible area contains data, this becomes a repetitive activity. For features like the Browser, and Fast Financials where users are expect to drag data from one window to another, the window can obscure the droppable area.

What could fix this issue is for certain tools that involve toggling back and forth between windows (Jfx, Browser, Fast Financials) is convert these modal windows into a side pane which can be minimized, maximized or closed.

An example of this design pattern can be found in the Excel Thesaurus.

side-pane-in-ex...

modals-obscurin...

Attachments Open full size