I've seen spreadsheets that are basically interactive tutorials, and many more loaded with what Edward Tufte refers to as "chartjunk" -- embellishments that do nothing to make the presentation of information more effective. Yet, generally, spreadsheets are treated pragmatically. Certainly, few people worry about their layout than the layout of text documents. Still, even if you share this attitude, learning the basic formatting options for cells in OpenOffice.org Calc can be worth your time. Many of the options directly effect how you interact with spreadsheets, and even the purely visual ones can make your lists and calculations easier to read at a glance.

If you just want a quick splash of color, you can format an entire sheet by selecting Format > Autoformat, or the Choose Theme icon (which seems to have disappeared in the default settings, but is retrievable via Tools > Customize > Toolbars).

However, although you can save your own autoformats, for versatility, nothing beats using cell styles and creating your own default template. Styles aren't as much a necessity in Calc as they are in Writer, since you can still access features even if you don't use them, but they are just as much time-savers, especially if you continually use the same designs.

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