Mac Versus PC - Different Browsers - What works and what doesn't on Anaplan?

usman.zia

Hi Community,

 

I just wanted to create a post to allow users / model builders to share their experiences on the differences / issues they face when viewing a model / dashboard on a PC vs MAC and different browsers:

 

It would be great if we could all share and then we can produce a list together of the known differences! 

 

So i'll start by sharing what issues I've been facing:

 

Emojis and Special Characters - I always use google chrome on a PC so I haven't seen any issues with emojis and special characters on a PC on Chrome, however many MAC users experience broken Emojis and Special Characters for example a simple arrow emoji will display on a PC on chrome but not on a MAC. Does anyone have a list of emojis / special characters that work on both MACs and PCs?

 

Images - I have found that on some occasions images will display on a PC on Chrome but not a on MAC. I have tested using various image hosting sites and have found that some sites will dispay on both PC and MAC - Imgur.com. However this would only be suitable for public images. 

 

It would be great to hear from the community about your experiences! 

 

Thanks,

 

Usman

CallumW

I think this is a great idea and perhaps should be featured as a consideration in the planual! @DavidSmith 

chris_hall

Agree this is a really useful topic.  On the specific point about emojis/special characters I dimly recall some discussion a while about the UX supporting specific character sets, or at least having been tested and proven to work with specific sets.  If that's true then two things would be great for us to know:

- what are the proven encoding types/sets?

- and maybe even more importantly does this still hold true in the new UX?  Or are there more/fewer limitations?  It'd be useful to add to the topic any differences that then apply between classic and new UX across PC vs Mac, between different browsers etc.

 

nathan_rudman

not exactly on subject but icons on a dashboard will block used from saving their views for "Personnal saved dashboards"

JaredDolich

Great topic @usman.zia and now with the new UX and being able to view pages on mobile this will be really important.

I agree with @CallumW with regard to special characters this definitely deserves a best practice mention, particularly in the Planual. Regarding images, i think some type of best-practice around naming conventions would be good too, especially if you use a lot of them.

I also use Chrome on an iMac and a PC and never had any problems with images. You actually introduced me to imgur.com but because of their retention rules, I chose not to use it. Instead, I worked with the e-commerce teams at my client to get a unsecured directory made where I can host the images.

 

Images are really important with the clients I work with, especially retailers where I need to show the product images, so the responsiveness of the dashboard or the page needs to be perfect. So far it has been. We all know the enhancements that would make dashboarding better though - the ones on the idea exchange. Symmetry on the dashboard makes it look more professional. I can't tell you how much time I spend adjusting the width of text box with a mouse.

 

I have to admit though, I don't use special characters - just a personal preference. I feel they clutter up the screen.

And I've never tried animated .gif files. Would be interested to hear from others if this has caused anyone issues. I would love to use them as a "help screen" on a dashboard.

 

Great post @usman.zia .

 

Jared

rob_marshall

All,

 

Please refer to rule 1.08 in the current Plannual.  This was a specific mandate from our founder Michael Gould more than 4 years ago, do not use emoji's.

 

 

 

Rob

chris_hall

@rob_marshall  - that's a helpful reminder, thanks.  But it would still be useful to understand a little more precisely what the constraints are here.  For example, is the issue really to do with Anaplan itself, or just to do with different browsers supporting or not supporting particular characters sets?  Or even if it's something that can vary depending on how the specific browser has been setup for that particular user (am thinking about language/locale settings, for example)?

 

So let's say an emoji or special character input by one user might render correctly, and is then converted to a background code in the Anaplan platform (presumably).  If it then won't render on another user's browser is that because the destination browser can't unencode it properly, or does something get lost en route through the platform?

 

Looking at this more widely it's not just limited to use of emojis (which is really a matter of personal taste anyway) - the same considerations are likely to apply when using accented characters from non-English languages or non-Roman scripts, which of course could be massively problematic for (say) multi-territory deployments.

DavidSmith

Unless anything has changed, it's all about the Unicode base plane

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_%28Unicode%29

 

I have no idea what all that means, but when Michael told me not to do it, I listened

 

David

chris_hall

Thanks David - I'd reply using a 'confused face' emoji but it might not render on all browsers...

rob_marshall

@chris_hall ,

 

I believe it has everything to do with how the different browsers interpret the emoji's as they are not uniform.  I know we all like to use them to make the dashboards look better, but they could very be harmful to the model.  Best case is to not use them, but really not use them within modules on or in line items.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rob

usman.zia

Thanks for sharing all! 

 

I have definitely learnt some things I didn't know! 

 

Does anyone know if it is possible to have the excel addin on a mac yet? 

 

Thanks,

 

Usman

rob_marshall

@usman.zia 

 

Excel Add-in on a Mac, no, not at this time.  The only way you can do that is by installing a virtual Windows instance on your Mac and I am thinking that is not what you are asking.

 

Rob

CallumW

I'm quite surprised by this - does anyone know if this is on the development timeline?

 

@MagaliP 

usman.zia

Thanks @rob_marshall 

 

I'm aware of this but I was interested to see if there was a specific mac excel product that been developed. 

 

Does anaplan keep a track of the number of mac users versus pc users? 

 

Because if theres not many then I can assume there won't be a development of a mac excel addin?

rob_marshall

@usman.zia @CallumW ,

 

To answer both of your questions, I am not for sure.  But there is a link on Idea Exchange:

 

https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Idea-Exchange/Excel-Add-in-for-Mac/idi-p/47916

 

Rob

CallumW

Thanks for the link @rob_marshall , have upvoted the idea as I've worked with a number of clients on Mac and this would be a welcome development!

chris_hall

Completely agree re a version for Mac of both add-ins (and also just upvoted on Idea Exchange).

 

As a further extention of this, are there any plans to create versions of the Excel/Powerpoint add-ins which will work with Office online (and which would therefore work irrespective of whether you're on a PC or Mac)?  I know this was raised a while back when v3.x of Excel was first released but I've not heard anything since.  This will definitely be an increasing need in the coming years as more and more users convert from desktop to online versions of Office.

MagaliP

Hi all,

 

Thank you for your interest in the Excel add-in.

 

At the moment, we have no plans to develop a Mac version nor an online version because we have so far identified a higher demand for Office on premise and Windows. We are regularly reviewing the need for Mac and online versions so I would be happy to discuss with you when we kick off a new piece of user research on this topic. In the meantime, you can upvote the existing idea for Mac and create a new one for online Office on the Idea Exchange.

chris_hall

Thanks @MagaliP , would certainly be interested in discussing this when you start doing user research on it.

 

In the meantime have taken up the suggestion of submitting add-ins for Office Online to Idea Exchange - the link is https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Idea-Exchange/Excel-and-Powerpoint-add-ins-for-Office-Online/idi-p/56536 in case anyone wants to lend their support.

usman.zia

@chris_hall  Definitely the right steps forward if an online / 365 office addin is added got my support!