The ribbon should be collapsible

[Kevin R]

Most users (myself included) have screens that are wider than they are tall.
However, most documents we prepare for printing are taller than they are
wide.

While I really like the new office ribbon, the biggest thing I don't like is
the amount of vertical space it demands.

It may be true that roughly the same amount of vertical space is available
for editing out-of-the-box on both Word 2003 and Word 2007, I have moved or
removed a toolbar or two to get more vertical space available.

Here are a few suggestions for making it slimmer vertically:

1: make it collapsible - perhaps by clicking on the active "menu" headers
(e.g. Home, Insert, etc). A second click will show it again.

2: for people with really large/wide screens, put the section labels inline
with their sections instead of underneath. So "Font" would move over to the
left of the font section instead of underneath it and so on.

3: consider letting me elect to display the ribbon vertically along the
left-hand edge of the screen instead of horizontally across the top.

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[John Jay Smith]

While I really like the new office ribbon, the biggest thing I don't like

is
the amount of vertical space it demands.

I also vote for detachable for those who have more than 1 screen

Lets hope ms will listen

 

[Echo S]

I also vote for detachable for those who have more than 1 screen

Lets hope ms will listen

I also desperately miss detachable "tear aways," but I very much doubt
they'll be added at this point.

As far as collapsing the ribbon, though, just double-click the word on the
active "tab." Click (single-click) the active "tab" again to restore the
ribbon.

 

[Kevin R]

As far as collapsing the ribbon, though, just double-click the word on the
active "tab." Click (single-click) the active "tab" again to restore the
ribbon.

Yes, so I noticed, after a lucky double-click. Double-clicking anywhere in
an M$ office toolbar is a such foreign concept to me (everything else is
either single left click or single right click) that I didn't even think to
try it.

So here's a slight modification to my suggestion -- make the collapsibility
of the new office ribbon a bit more discoverable!

;-)

- Kevin

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Kevin,

You can also use Ctrl+F1 to toggle the Ribbons on and off.

For User Interface (UI) suggestions you may also want to post on the 2007 Office System UI blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/
(you'll also find background and information on decisions made about the Ribbon for the 2007 Office System version, but be sure to
take advantage of the 2007 MS Office System 'Send A smile' feedback tool, where you can include a screen shot and a description of
your suggestion or issue (with reasons and details to help the reviewers understand your context and why 'it would be better if'.
The Send-a-Smile home page is
http://sas.office.microsoft.com/

========

Yes, so I noticed, after a lucky double-click. Double-clicking anywhere in
an M$ office toolbar is a such foreign concept to me (everything else is
either single left click or single right click) that I didn't even think to
try it.

So here's a slight modification to my suggestion -- make the collapsibility
of the new office ribbon a bit more discoverable!

;-)

- Kevin >>
--
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