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