Word 2007 Appearance

[tonglo]

Hello,

I do all documentation for my employer and have been using Word since the
very beginning (and use it all day in the workplace). With Word 2007, I'm
faced with a very big decision in the next 6-12 months (that could affect my
job). Do I relearn Word or move onto another product? Therefore, I've
downloaded a trial version and have a few questions:

1. Does anyone know if Microsoft will, eventually, provide users of Word
2007 the option of displaying their buttons, menus, etc. in the "Windows
Classic Style?" If so, will users be allowed to change their color scheme to
"Windows Standard" too?

2. If the answer is no to the above questions, will the classic toolbar
toggle and classic menu add-ons let users change the appearance to the
"Windows Classic Style" and "Windows Standard?"

I think I may be able to adjust to things if I can change from the limited
Blue, Gray, and Black color options (especially when I'm looking at Word
eight hours a day).

Thank you very much for any help and/or thoughts.

Paul

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?dG9uZ2xv?=,

1. Does anyone know if Microsoft will, eventually, provide users of Word
2007 the option of displaying their buttons, menus, etc. in the "Windows
Classic Style?" If so, will users be allowed to change their color scheme to
"Windows Standard" too?

I'm fairly certain things won't be going back to menus and toolbars. The Ribbon
is going to be around for a few years. No idea whether they're planning to add
additional color schemes. From the 2007 beta I know they went from two to three
color schemes, so I suppose it's possible... At this point, I really don't think
anyone (outside top people in the Office UI team) has any idea.

2. If the answer is no to the above questions, will the classic toolbar
toggle and classic menu add-ons let users change the appearance to the
"Windows Classic Style" and "Windows Standard?"

I think I may be able to adjust to things if I can change from the limited
Blue, Gray, and Black color options (especially when I'm looking at Word
eight hours a day).

TEchnically, something like that would be difficult, if not impossible, to
achieve. The color schemes are hard-coded into the Office applications. I happen
to know the person who programmed toolbar toggle. He's pretty good at getting
into the guts of things. You could try the Contact link on that site and ask?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[tonglo]

Hi Cindy,

Thank you very much for your response, I appreciate it. Guess I'm a bit
disappointed in things as I've used Word for so long. I know I'm just one
person out of millions out there, but as a writer; I can't adjust to the
color scheme. Just too bright for me over the course of a long day (even
with adjustments I've tried to make to my monitor). I question if the
developers (who I'm sure are very talented) considered writers (someone who
uses Word 8 or more hours a day) in their work. In any event, its my fault.
I put all my efforts into learning and documenting internal software
applications at my employer (which is my jobs) without consideration to Word.
In other words, I just used Word, accepted the minor changes over the years,
and ultimately took it for granted. Never thought a change like this would
happen.

Thanks again,

Paul

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't find Word 2007 any "brighter" than Word 2003. But then I have my
window color (and hence Word's paper color) set to ivory.

 

[tonglo]

Hi Suzanne,

Thank you for your response. I find Word 2007 much brighter because the
application is surrounded, essentially, by one color (blue, silver, or
black). In my humble opinion, this lack of color contrast does not make for
good reading or writing over long periods of time. In other words, too much
strain on the eyes. I've had a "white paper color" for years but must admit
I did try the ivory look recently to no avail (to offset the above issues).
It's disappointing, I think I could adjust to Word 2007 if I only had the
Windows Standard color style available to me. I'd love to get other user's
opinions.

Again, thank you,

Paul

 

[Graham Mayor]

Frankly the pale blue colour of Word 2007 is exactly the same as the blue
colour of 2003 and on a decent monitor is quite restful to the eyes. If
yours appears garish and hard to look at, you might do better to investigate
a better monitor. Some cheap monotors are quite hard to look at. There are
no glare or harsh colours from my Viewsonic 19" jobbie, and while at my age
my eyesight is not what it was when I was 25, I can work for hours withour
eye strain.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi Graham,

Frankly the pale blue colour of Word 2007 is exactly the same as the blue
colour of 2003 and on a decent monitor is quite restful to the eyes.

I agree. I didn't want to write that in my original reply because I didn't
know if we were talking to someone who likes the more garish tones, which
hurt my eyes. Everyone is so different...

FWIW I also find it easier to look at Word 2007 on the Vista machine - the
contrasts are a bit better.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[tonglo]

Hi Graham,

Thank you for your words. However, I do not use the "blue colour of 2003."
I set my appearance on 2003 to Windows Classic and Windows Standard. As a
matter of fact, when I provided this option to many of my co-workers awhile
back, they all did the same thing. Therefore (and respectfully), I guess we
agree to disagree. In a small sample of people I know, they don't like or
never accepted the blue color. I consider them the silent majority. To be
fair to all, I think it comes down to the fact that we're all different.
However, I feel very strongly that Microsoft should have provided this
option. It should be very interesting at Microsoft in the next few years.
If Office does not go over well and/or Google or other products take market
share, Microsoft may have to reconsider their business. For example, many of
my peers do not like Vista and/or will not purchase it. Take it from a guy
who's been around, any business or company can be challenged and, eventually,
lose their customers. Again, thank you for your response and I wish you well.

Paul

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Paul,

It is interesting that MS allows themes with many colors to be provided to documents in Office 2007 but not to the interface <g>.
It's not so much a matter of agreeing or disagreeing with how it looks as it is that there isn't much that's known about being able
to change it.

The blue scheme was created to 'complement' Windows XP classic coloring.

The black scheme was created to 'complement' Windows Vista coloring

The silver scheme was added, in part, to provide a solid background color that allowed recording or saving screenshots in graphics
without a 'rainbow striped' background, such as those you'll see on MS's http://communityclips.officelabs.com <g>

but then corporate branding and appearance are often 'controlled' things in business

There are MS and 3rd party development tools for creating Ribbon interfaces and one of the things some developers asked for was to
be able to match/synch to the Office 2007 built in color schemes while still having some predictability on how their apps or add-ins
would look. I haven't checked recently, but I don't think even some of the skinning apps such as
http://windowsblinds.net supports changing the coloring in Office 2007.

You can use a combination of Windows control panel
Control Panel=>Accessibility=>Display=>High Contrast settings
and then followed by creating a Windows XP modified theme in
Control Panel=>Display=>Appearance & Theme tabs to customize the colors of the ribbon and the work area, but you'll lose some of
the color and contouring/style choices in the Office icons, but you'll find that areas such as the background of the preview
galleries and Quick style lists are changeable (i.e. they follow the 'Active Window' color, which can be changed with even a more
subtle variation than ivory by cutting back each of the three RGB values, for example, from 255/255/255 to 253/253/253 or
248/248/248, just to tone down the 'white', and not need to use the High contrast settings.

===========
Hi Suzanne,

Thank you for your response. I find Word 2007 much brighter because the
application is surrounded, essentially, by one color (blue, silver, or
black). In my humble opinion, this lack of color contrast does not make for
good reading or writing over long periods of time. In other words, too much
strain on the eyes. I've had a "white paper color" for years but must admit
I did try the ivory look recently to no avail (to offset the above issues).
It's disappointing, I think I could adjust to Word 2007 if I only had the
Windows Standard color style available to me. I'd love to get other user's
opinions.

Again, thank you,

Paul >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*