I think it would be nice if there was a more constrained, or specialized, spreadsheet option with only 2 columns, where the value of the first column is always the alias and the second column is always the value. I guess there could be other fixed optional columns like units as well.

99% of the time this is all I want - a simple list of variables. It's definitely tedious to create parameters in the current design, as great and powerful a feature as it is.

I'm not familiar with the macro mentioned - I need to look into that. If it saves one or two steps it'd be worth it.

Give Dynamic data a try. It creates a container for your variables. I prefer using this when designing, as i find the workflow much more intuitive

There really needs to be a variable system like there is on Assembly4, you can't even see the aliased value in spreadsheets without clicking into the cell (which constitutes a change so the entire project recomputes) so I end up having to make another adjacent with the variable name in text. But no, that doesn't work to just put in the name because the spreadsheet will interpret it as the variable since it is within the spreadsheet, you have to put quotes around it.

Also, changing an alias'd value in the spreadsheet on anything larger than an extremely basic part can take upwards of 5 minutes, even when solving the entire model only takes on the order of 10 seconds.

Spreadsheets are horrible in freecad.

Is it on FreeCAD short-time roadmap to improve it?