I have a client that "needs" to have 12-16 columns of data, all on one page, all clickable and all sortable. The result set can be up to 1000+ records. It's not realistic, it breaks the page design, it slows down the page load - it's obviously too much data not the proper way to do it. We might as well build an Excel file to work with at this point. Sure, I can use icons, color coding, etc. to minimize columns, but this argument hasn't worked well - with the client claiming they need to see all this data at once.
What are your opinions on the matter? I would argue only 5-6 columns really need to be sortable displayed on initial view - that the user really needs to get the data they want. The rest can be displayed with one click (whether a row-drop shows the rest of the data, it's shown in an icon, it's filtered with a search box, or a pop-over/tooltip, etc. etc.).
My arguments aren't working, so I need some advice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
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