i've tended to use oracle-like names for views that have been quite useful. i use a few variations on this but datatype, length and columnorder are useful when it comes to reproducing the formats of adhoc queries

/****** Object: View dbo.all_columns Script Date: 12/11/2001 3:47:11 PM ******/

CREATE view ColumnDesc as

select syscolumns.name columnname,sysobjects.name tablename,sysobjects.id tableid,

systypes.name datatype, syscolumns.length length,syscolumns.colorder columnorder,syscolumns.isnullable isnullable, syscolumns.autoval autoval

,sysproperties.[value] [Description]

from sysobjects,syscolumns,systypes,sysproperties

where sysobjects.xtype='U'

and sysobjects.id=syscolumns.id

and sysobjects.id=sysproperties.id

and syscolumns.id=sysproperties.id

and syscolumns.xtype=systypes.xtype

and sysproperties.type=4

and sysproperties.smallid=syscolumns.colid