If you have the time to spare, try downloading the Windows Media version of
this talk given by Jensen:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2008/03/12/the-story-of-the-ribbon.aspx
I think that provides the most solid foundation for Microsoft's decision to
move away from menus and to a more (to me at least) intuitive Ribbon. It is
also fascinating.
--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
How to ask a question:
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
After furious head scratching, FH asked:
| I have suggestions for improvement, but I think such suggestions
| would fall on deaf ears here. My feeling is that this is dangerous
| territory within which to question the ribbon. I'm not looking for
| "get over it" replies. I won't get over it. I will move on to
| different software. I am a fan of most of Microsoft's products and
| consider Office's feature set far superior to competition, so this is
| my last resort. What else can I do? The ribbon is simply a deal
| breaker for me. I've given it a shot, found it unacceptable, and have
| to make a decision. Productivity is what I am after, and ribbon
| doesn't deliver. Perhaps for some, but not for me. (I can't think of
| a more controversial decision Microsoft has made in recent years.)
|
| If you provide a link for MS's motivation to switch from the 2003
| interface to the ribbon, I will read it, but I can't read through all
| of Jenson's blog. Many have said the ribbon is better without
| providing a single reason why, save for vague things like usability
| (without naming why it supposedly improves usability). Thanks for
| providing the link to that, by the way. I'll try to contact him.
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| 1. "After furious head scratching" is a part of my generic quote -
|| please feel free to review any of my thousands of other posts using
|| the same quote. It is not personal. I don't know you so why should
|| I make a personal comment just to you? Besides, I don't know of a
|| single other MVP who uses the same quoting style.
||
|| 2. The add-in I referred you to is free - no cost, nada, zilch,
|| nothing, completely usable without payment. If you want the full
|| program, you will need to pay. Microsoft is not taking any backward
|| steps on this. Their reasoning, while perhaps not acceptable to
|| some users, is well supported. See point number three.
||
|| 3. The only contact addresses that you will be able to use are the
|| generic ones that say "contact us" or something to that effect. No
|| one is going to give you a direct e-mail contact in Microsoft since
|| the GUI is not controlled by only one person. Even if I knew one,
|| which I don't, I don't work for Microsoft.
||
|| The one address that you can post a comment on is
||
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh who was the chief architect of the
|| 2007 GUI. However, I don't know if that blog is currently being
|| monitored.
||
|| You might want to stop to read WHY the menu system was discontinued
|| as well to give some perpective about the change and why it was
|| inevitable.
||
|| 4. Have you reviewed the 2003-->2007 tutorials that I posted the
|| link for?
||
|| Suggestions to improve the Ribbon will most likely be more
|| acceptable than a demand to return to what clearly would not work
|| going forward.
||
|| --
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
|| How to ask a question:
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
||
||
|| After furious head scratching, FH asked:
||
||| While I appreciate the advice, I really am looking for contact email
||| addresses. Even a generic one. I know about the third party
||| utilities. I will not pay more for something that I think should be
||| included by default (the lite version of that program isn't as good
||| as I need it to be.)
|||
||| I have posted in the past here concerning the ribbon and I don't
||| think that it helps anyone to use the continuous ad-hominems you
||| MVP's like to throw around like "after frustrating head scratching."
||| Is it not possible that some people don't like ribbon for good
||| reasons? Ribbon-cheering will only make it worse (if something else
||| isn't there) and I think will hurt Microsoft as a company in the
||| long run. All of this looks very bad to me going forward,
||| especially since the ribbon-guy is working on the UI for W7, as I
||| understand it. You are blind if you think that there is not a
||| (rather large) contingent of people out there that do not have
||| *good* reasons for not-liking the ribbon. These people consider the
||| *ribbon* to be the kludgy interface.
|||
|||
|||
||| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|||
|||| Office 2007 is out of development and I doubt they will do anything
|||| to revert to the old kludgy menu system. Office 14 will feature
|||| more applications with Ribboning (like the Outlook main window) to
|||| my understanding.
||||
|||| Even Windows will begin to use that interface.
||||
|||| I suggest that you either revert to Office 2003 or earlier or use
|||| the tutorials here to assist your learning curve:
||||
||
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx?pid=CL100788241033
||||
|||| There are also add-ins that will revert Office 2007 to the earlier
|||| menu system - one free add-in is available from
||||
http://www.pschmid.net
||||
|||| --
|||| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||||
|||| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
|||| How to ask a question:
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
||||
||||
|||| After furious head scratching, FH asked:
||||
||||| I want to know where I can email the relevant office staff to
||||| suggest changes (i.e, bringing, or at least allowing, the 2003
||||| interface back). I could not find an email link for feature
||||| suggestions or commentary on the help page. I seriously cannot
||||| work with the Ribbon anymore. Today is the last day I will put up
||||| with it (At least at home... unfortunately, I don't have a choice
||||| when working with some clients, although luckily my firm has
||||| refused to adopt 2007 because of the ribbon.) I won't buy another
||||| Office product again that "features" it. The loss of productivity
||||| is still staggering, and I have been using it for at least 11
||||| months now. Office 2007 has a lot of great features I have come
||||| to love, but the ribbon is not one of them. I don't care if it's
||||| there - as long as the old menu is also there, too. I have a lot
||||| more things to say and arguments to make, but I'll save them for
||||| the relevant parties. If anyone knows the proper email
||||| address(es) to contact the Office 07 UI team - or at least
||||| someone who could pass along the message - please post.
|||||
|||||
||||| ----------------
||||| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to
||||| the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion,
||||| click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see
||||| the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the
||||| Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the
||||| message pane.
|||||
|||||
||||
||
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...-ddc73e2cc656&dg=microsoft.public.office.misc
