Word 2007 Learning Curve
Suzanne
It is a useful and valuable feature - but it is a nightmare to change the
button faces and you can end up with several tools all with the same button
face or with button faces that are irrelevant to Word or any of its
commands. A simple example is the ParaPageBreakBefore button face is a green
Bullet when added to the QAT: what relevance to real life is a green bullet.
It is also share by many other commands too, so you can fill the QAT with
green bullets if you love green bullets.
My point is that although I now believe that Ribbons (and the QAT) are a way
forward, until it can be customised out-of-the-box without the need for
programming skills, it falls down BADLY.
Terry
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
While I agree that a customizable ribbon or tab would be helpful, it has
been pointed out that you can create a specialize QAT for a specific
template. Don't think, however, that I am in any way defending the loss of
customizability. I haven't yet "upgraded" to Office 2007, but I'm going to
be one of the loudest whiners when I do, as I have highly customized my
Word 2003 UI (with some customizations probably dating back to Word 2.0).
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
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.....
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