[Terry Farrell[_2_]]

Paul

I agree: the current implementation makes it harder for all and I cannot see
what the long-term advantages are to anyone that the Ribbons are locked down
so tightly.

What I would like to see is the ordinary user being able to create their own
'Home' Ribbon that can be tied in with a template. On this ribbon, the user
can add whatever groups they want from any of the other standard ribbons and
remove/change the contents of these groups.

For example, my Home ribbon would remove the Clipboard group (a real waste
of screen space), remove much of the Font and Paragraph group tools (but
adding a few more useful tools) and thus making loads more space for styles.

Terry

"Paul Gauci" wrote in message
...
OK - but how about the needs of companies (large and small) who use
customised styles/templates/toolbars/icons etc to standardise the
presentations of letters, reports, etc?

For instance, when such companies work with outsiders (say, when they
outsource), all they had to do with 2003 was to provide their
sub-contractors
with their customised templates/toolbars/icons etc and save considerable
time
and energy on post writing-up formatting.

Also, freelancers who work/ed for different companies using their clients'
customised templates/toolbars/icons can/could be very efficient when 2003
customisations are/were well designed. It appears to me that they will
have
problems being as efficient with 2007.

--
Paul Gauci


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

No, but that would be why customization would make it difficult to
support.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
I see. So we dumb down Word to help the helpers?

Terry

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
Because the help desk person is not looking at the same screen the
user
is, so the user is referring to buttons and menu items the IT person
may
not even be aware exist, much less have in his UI.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
Gordon

I'm not sure why this should be a support nightmare. If you use
roaming
profiles, surely, the customisations stay with the user. So if I log
into any computer on the network, I get My Profile with My Desktop
displayed and in Word I will see all my toolbars as I want to use
them.
Why is that a support nightmare?

Terry

"Gordon" wrote in message
...
"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
In previous versions, I always modified the Toolbars. Many of the
tools I never used (such as cut, copy, past, bold, italics
underline,
etc.) I always dragged off and added useful tools that were hidden
(such as ParaPageBreakBefore, Doc Properties, File New... and
custom
macros, etc.).

I always like that there were always so many different ways to work
in
Word that allowed users to customize and work in a way that suited
themselves and their principal tasks. To me, much of this choice
seems
to have been removed. I was privileged to be shown demos of the
proposed Ribbon before it went beta and was enthusiastic as I could
see that so many more commands could be made available for users,
rather than having to dig deep to find the hidden nest of tools
available. But I wasn't aware of how rigid the Ribbon was to be
until
beta testing started. I was deeply disappointed and I still am.
And I
will remain disappointed until the Ribbon is user customizable
out-of-the-box.

Terry

I hear what you say, but from a support perspective in a commercial
environment, a User customising ANYTHING on an individual basis
turns
into a support/helpdesk nightmare.....