MS Office 2007: why the Ribbon?

[dee-u]

I just think that the classic menu and toolbar was good enough, it was not broken so why did MS replaced it?

[Nightwalker83]

According to wakypedia:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_(computing)

Microsoft originally implemented ribbons as part of its "Fluent User Interface" in Office 2007.[1] The ribbon is formed as a panel that houses the command buttons and icons, organizes commands as a set of tabs, each grouping relevant commands. Each application has a different set of tabs which expose the functionality that application offers. For example, while Excel has a tab for the graphing capabilities, Powerpoint does not, instead providing tabs for controlling animation and configuring slide shows. Within each tab, various related options may be grouped together. The Ribbon is designed to make the features of the application more discoverable and accessible with fewer mouse clicks[2][dead link] as compared to the menu-based UI used prior to Office 2007. Moving the mouse scroll wheel while on any of the tabs on the ribbon cycles through the tabs. The Ribbon can be minimized by double clicking the active section's title, such as the Home text in the picture below.[3] The ribbon consolidates the functionality previously found in menus, toolbars and many task panes into one area to increase usability.[4].

It's suppose to make the menus more visible to the user.

[chris128]

I just think that the classic menu and toolbar was good enough, it was not broken so why did MS replaced it?

You could say the same about the user interface in Windows 95 - it wasnt broken so why bother changing it to what we have now in Windows Vista (or XP) ? You try going and using a Windows 95 machine now and I bet you will wish it had all the features that XP had. Just because something doesnt have any obvious problems does not mean it cannot be improved upon.

Pretty much every user in our company hated Office 2007 when they first started using it - purely because its different. People dont like change a lot of the time in software, they like to know where things are which is fair enough but all it takes is a little getting used to and then you are as comfortable with the new interface as you were with the old one.

There was a brief discussion about this in a thread that RobDogg created about Windows 7 recently, I think it was in General PC (or it might have been here in General Developer) - see if you can track that down and have a read.

[Jenner]

I've been using Office 2k7 now for 2 years and I still hate the Ribbon. It's way too restrictive, and poorly laid out. Now, if the end-user could customize the things and remove tabs and swap components around as they wish, I'd be in love with the thing.

[JuggaloBrotha]

I've been using Office 2k7 now for 2 years and I still hate the Ribbon. It's way too restrictive, and poorly laid out. Now, if the end-user could customize the things and remove tabs and swap components around as they wish, I'd be in love with the thing.

That's what I'm waiting for... Ribbon customization, I mean after all in Office2003 you can customize the toolbars so why not customize the ribbon

[chris128]

I think thats because you (and most others on here) are not the average user that doesnt need access to most of the more advanced stuff. For the average user that just wants to copy and paste things etc its probably easier. I do agree though that it would be better if you could customise it as then it would suit more than just the 'stupid' users.

[dee-u]

I think thats because you (and most others on here) are not the average user that doesnt need access to most of the more advanced stuff.

Does the above statement translate to this? I just removed the two not.

I think thats because you (and most others on here) are the average user that does need access to most of the more advanced stuff.

You could say the same about the user interface in Windows 95 - it wasnt broken so why bother changing it to what we have now in Windows Vista (or XP) ?

I haven't seen any Windows 95 so I really can't compare. Or did you mean Office 95 which I have not seen either? When it comes to the OS it can be different since I have tried Vista and I have no problems with it, its just that the Ribbon has this 'feature overload' if I can call it as such since it gives everything even though I don't or rarely use it, I prefer that only those that I use frequently is presented to me.

[penagate]

You can hide the ribbon and use keyboard shortcuts instead for most common tasks.

[dee-u]

I would have prefer an option for switching to classical menu/toolbar.

[penagate]

I just think that the classic menu and toolbar was good enough, it was not broken so why did MS replaced it?

Because of the "80/20" rule: 80% of people use 20% of the features. In the case of Office, more than 80% used less than 20%. The Ribbon was a deliberate attempt to make things easier to find for new users and perhaps introduce experienced users to features they hadn't known existed, at the expense of breaking established habits.

[Nightwalker83]

I've been using Office 2k7 now for 2 years and I still hate the Ribbon. It's way too restrictive, and poorly laid out. Now, if the end-user could customize the things and remove tabs and swap components around as they wish, I'd be in love with the thing.

That's what I'm waiting for... Ribbon customization, I mean after all in Office2003 you can customize the toolbars so why not customize the ribbon

I found this:

http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice/

there may be others try searching for something like "Ribbon in Office 2007".

[JuggaloBrotha]

I found this:

http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice/

there may be others try searching for something like "Ribbon in Office 2007".

Hmm, now that's something to defiantly try out sometime. Although in prolly less than 7 months I'll be getting Office 14 and I've read that they've redesigned the ribbon in it to accommodate the more advanced users so I'll be switching to that when it's released and may not need this.

I'll still play with it some and see if it's worth keeping.

[RhinoBull]

Because of the "80/20" rule: 80% of people use 20% of the features. In the case of Office, more than 80% used less than 20%. The Ribbon was a deliberate attempt to make things easier to find for new users and perhaps introduce experienced users to features they hadn't known existed, at the expense of breaking established habits.

Believe it or not but new Office requires tremendus learning - we had it installed to a selective department (small - about 10 people) just to see how it goes.
After almost 8 months they still hate it (mostly navigation) and our guys from the HelpDesk are sick from amount of phone calls they get from those users.
I guess "nice" isn't always better and this is just one little story of millions.

[penagate]

Believe it or not but new Office requires tremendus learning - we had it installed to a selective department (small - about 10 people) just to see how it goes.
After almost 8 months they still hate it (mostly navigation) and our guys from the HelpDesk are sick from amount of phone calls they get from those users.
I guess "nice" isn't always better and this is just one little story of millions.

I know -- I hate it too!

[RobDog888]

Dont hate the Ribbon, hate the work! lol

The Ribbon is the best!

[si_the_geek]

I think it is a good idea, but the current layouts aren't ideal... hopefully they'll be re-arranged (and a customise option added) in future versions.

[Nightwalker83]

Hmm, now that's something to defiantly try out sometime. Although in prolly less than 7 months I'll be getting Office 14 and I've read that they've redesigned the ribbon in it to accommodate the more advanced users so I'll be switching to that when it's released and may not need this..

What!!! Is Office 14 just the name of the suite or have we actually survived 14 release versions of Office over the years?

[JuggaloBrotha]

What!!! Is Office 14 just the name of the suite or have we actually survived 14 release versions of Office over the years?

Office 2010's internal version # is 14 (they skipped 13, prolly for superstitious reasons)

So really, once released, we'll have survived 13 versions of office.

[RobDog888]

Office 2010 by first half of 2010

[Nightwalker83]

Office 2010's internal version # is 14 (they skipped 13, prolly for superstitious reasons)

So really, once released, we'll have survived 13 versions of office.

Yeah, I thought they would skip number 13! It seems to be fairly consistent in the media that Americas are superstitious of the number 13, although I don't know the exact reason behind it I can guess a few reasons why it might be the case.

[RobDog888]

So if you could change the ribbon in 2010, how would you change it?

[JuggaloBrotha]

So if you could change the ribbon in 2010, how would you change it?

That depends on how it's organized by default.

[RobDog888]

No I mean like if you had a hand in designing it at MS, what changes would you have done etc

[JuggaloBrotha]

I would put all of the most commonly used items in the main tab, so yes that means things like bold, bullet positioning, margins, print, print preview, vb editor all together on the first tab.

That way I'm not constantly switching tabs for what i need, I never had to do that with the toolbars.

This is just an example, I don't have word open to list all of the stuff I regularly use. But even with this approach, what I use most isn't what my coworker next to me uses most so it wouldn't be ideal for them.... this is why it'd be nice to be able to customize the ribbon. MS can keep the ribbon organized as it currently is, as long as I can move items around on it. I wouldn't mind having to set it up each time I install it either, I don't install office very frequently.

[RobDog888]

Yes the customise ability is lost witht he ribbon but the command bars had that which was cool.
Create a new tab and set it as the main with all your favorite stuff on it

[Jenner]

If the Ribbons had that ability to shuffle things and customize them, I'd be completely in love with the things. It's one of those appalling, boneheaded design decisions by the Office development team that should never have happened. Someone, somewhere should have piped up: "Hey, you can customize the old toolbar system because everyone has different needs for different buttons, shouldn't we allow the end user to customize the Ribbons?"

It might not have been the entire team. Most likely, some team members raised an objection but were vetoed in the end, and it's not lightly that I ever use the term "morons" when describing people, but the programmers and managers who were responsible for not allowing customization of this flagship control are morons.

The fact that customization hasn't come out with a service pack yet just tells me it runs even deeper than that; that those morons aren't even aware they are morons.

[FunkyDexter]

I have to say I don't like the ribbon. I don't hate it, it just irritates me constantly. I've been using it for about a year and I just haven't got used to it. I find my self scratching my head and searching for features - even if I've used them before and I think I end up with more keystrokes/mouseclicks than I used to under the menus (that's probably not true but it feels like it)

Customisation is a heeeeuuuge hole in the functionality and I really don't understand why they didn't offer because it would quash all my objections in a single stroke.

things like bold, bullet positioning, margins, print, print preview, vb editor all together on the first tab.

I think it's safe to say you're not the average user.

[si_the_geek]

At least you can customise the "Quick Access Toolbar" (above or below the ribbon), so you can put your most used features there.

Unfortunately that only really works if you have a relatively small set of commonly used features (as I do for Access, but not for Excel etc), and you only get small icons without captions (so you need to hover for a tooltip if the icons aren't obvious).

[dclamp]

Office 2010 by first half of 2010

Office 2010, I haz it.

[dclamp]

Customize Ribbon:

[RobDog888]

You had to go and ruin the surprise didnt you lol

Its the Beta though so cant use on a production system. When its RTM is what we are talking here.

[Jenner]

Nice! I held off on pushing an office suite upgrade in my company. Looks like when 2010 comes out, I'll be pushing for it then.

[JuggaloBrotha]

I havent gotten to trying the office 2010 beta and whatnot yet, does it still have the crappy vba editor or did they drop that and implement .Net support like they were talking about a year ago?

[dclamp]

You had to go and ruin the surprise didnt you lol

Yes. haha.

Office 2007 came out 2 years ago... Office 2003 came out 6 years ago... I still prefer office 2003.

[RobDog888]

2007/2010 FTW!!! By far!!! 2003 was good but it has seen its day.

[dclamp]

I must say that the ribbon in 2010 is much better than in 2007. But i have not had a lot of time to work with 2010 or 2007, so 2003 FTW!

[JuggaloBrotha]

Office 2003 with the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack FTW

[RobDog888]

Fine! Just Microsoft Office FTW over any other "office-like" program suite.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I think they need to bring back the Spy Hunter easter egg from that earlier version of Office (the one before 2003, whichever it was).

I also particularly like the fact that Microsoft named the ribbons the FU Interface. Frankly, I seriously doubt that they overlooked the implications of those initials, as the term has been applied to other projects internally.

I'm currently indifferent to the interface change. What really burns my britches is the proliferation of file name extensions, and the incompatibility between them. I have to send out .doc versions of every .docx file I make.

[dclamp]

Fine! Just Microsoft Office FTW over any other "office-like" program suite.

That post is full of WIN