Ribbon interface should allow for easy user customization

[Mike]

I just learned about this new "feature" - that the ribbon interface cannot be
customized - late last night. New features should not remove the ability to
customize them, which the ribbon interface does. You cannot add to it, you
cannot move items around, you cannot remove items you don't use, you cannot
create new 'ribbons' or toolbars. The excuse - that data collected from the
service function of Windows told them no one customized the UI - makes no
sense; those people who are going to customize Office are likely to turn this
feature off, meaning they're completely unrepresented. Even if this were not
the case, previous experience with Office 2000 (and the horrific
'personalized menu & toolbar') should have taught Microsoft to give users the
option to customize settings. Windows XP & IE both have the option to do
exactly what they want - lock the toolbar/taskbar. This would seem to serve
both groups of users - those that want to customize, and those that want to
be assured they don't accidentaly change the UI. An option like this could
also be made part of a group policy, which would be great for enterprise
users.

I understand an add-in is being developed for this, but this should be an
integral part of Office, not a 3rd party add in. I'm not sure if there is
time for Microsoft to make this change before the RC but I can certainly hope
for it. If UI customization is not addressed prior to general release, I
would be willing to bet that 2007 will have difficulty making a big impact -
sophisticated users (again, those most likely to want to update somewhat
quickly) will likely wait, and enterprise users may be concerned about the
double whammy of a big UI change and the lack of customization options.
Those people who do upgrade, not aware or initially not concerned about the
UI lock down, may be left to silently wonder why they cannot work efficiently.

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[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Mike,

Be sure to send your feedback directly to Microsoft on this using the 2007 Office Feedback tool from the link below. As it concerns
the Office 2007 User Interface you may also want to post this as a comment on the Office UI team blog at
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh

(Each of the 2007 Office apps has a team blog, that ones is the most active/interactive <g>)

FWIW, the Ribbon can be customized using some XML editing as well as via programming contrls. On large enterprise accounts many of
those have requested that the UI not be adjustable by their users to 'lower' their support costs

You can add commands and groups to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) through the MS Office
Button(file)=>[appname]Options=>Customization or by right clicking on the QAT and choosing customize. The QAT is the one with the
'undo' and 'quick print' icons that starts above the Ribbons, but you can also place it below the ribbon. On the other hand the QAT
can be set to not be customizable or turned off entirely as part of a corporate deployment and sadly some admins/companies will
likely do just that.


=========
I just learned about this new "feature" - that the ribbon interface cannot be
customized - late last night. New features should not remove the ability to
customize them, which the ribbon interface does. You cannot add to it, you
cannot move items around, you cannot remove items you don't use, you cannot
create new 'ribbons' or toolbars. The excuse - that data collected from the
service function of Windows told them no one customized the UI - makes no
sense; those people who are going to customize Office are likely to turn this
feature off, meaning they're completely unrepresented. Even if this were not
the case, previous experience with Office 2000 (and the horrific
'personalized menu & toolbar') should have taught Microsoft to give users the
option to customize settings. Windows XP & IE both have the option to do
exactly what they want - lock the toolbar/taskbar. This would seem to serve
both groups of users - those that want to customize, and those that want to
be assured they don't accidentaly change the UI. An option like this could
also be made part of a group policy, which would be great for enterprise
users.

I understand an add-in is being developed for this, but this should be an
integral part of Office, not a 3rd party add in. I'm not sure if there is
time for Microsoft to make this change before the RC but I can certainly hope
for it. If UI customization is not addressed prior to general release, I
would be willing to bet that 2007 will have difficulty making a big impact -
sophisticated users (again, those most likely to want to update somewhat
quickly) will likely wait, and enterprise users may be concerned about the
double whammy of a big UI change and the lack of customization options.
Those people who do upgrade, not aware or initially not concerned about the
UI lock down, may be left to silently wonder why they cannot work efficiently. >>
--
I hope this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

Read about it, try it, or watch the movie
the 2007 Microsoft Office system iinfo is at
http://microsoft.com/office/preview

Already have 2007 Office System Beta 2?
Send Microsoft your feedback (with pictures)
http://sas.office.microsoft.com/