Yves, by the time ribbons become standard, you will hear a lot more
complaints, and both OO and MSO will have to provide alternatives. The ribbon
interface is simply inefficient for experienced users, although I concede it
is better for beginners. Why, WHY, do I have to scroll on nearly every option
so I can see a visual representation of the result? After a couple of times,
I know whet I want, and I do not need to see it again... but I am forced to
keep going through the icon universe.
FYI, I have participated in every "Customer Experience Improvement Program",
e.g. Office, Visual Studio, SQL Server. The success of the ribbon is due to a
cultural change rooted in the decrease of functional literacy. People are
getting more used to images, and that has permeated the Office design team.
Is liking a candy to kids. Do they like it? Sure! Is it good for them? Not in
excess... and that is exactly what has happened with MS Office: an excess of
visual candy that result in loss of productivity.
That's it. I have said my piece. I waited for two years, hoping that it was
just a matter of learning the new interface. But it is not. This a matter of
structural cognitive processes. Therefore, the recommendation stands: give
users the option of having text menus.
"Yves Dhondt" wrote:
When I read posts like yours, I always wonder about something. One of the
first times you ran an Office 2003 product, you got a question to
participate in the "Customer Experience Improvement Program". Basically,
what the program did was anonymously collect data about your usage of Office
2003. Did you allow that to happen? If not, then you are partially to blame
for the fact the ribbon is here today.
Anyway. Have you seen the prototypes for project Renaissance? They
introduced ribbons all over the place in Open Office. Of course those are
only prototypes which will most likely never make it to production. But
still... And lately, there have been prototypes with mixed interfaces. They
have the ordinary menu structure, but ribbon alike contextual tabs showing
up in several places. If you have Java 6.0 installed, you can check them out
for Impress (the Powerpoint alternative) using the following like:
http://tools.services.openoffice.org...prototype.jnlp
All in all, Open Office might not have a ribbon today, but in the long term,
give it another 2 or 3 years it probably will.
Yves
"JBGM" wrote in message
...
Please allow users to bring the old menus back. The "genius" who
spearheaded
the change in the menus in Office 2007, i.e. the ribbon interface, should
be
fired. It is EXTREMELY frustrating having to go through all these clicks
and
visual menus to find simple options that were more intuitively placed in
previous versions of Office. Do you think that younger people are unable
to
read so you have to put pictures for the newer generations? It is so
frustrating that I have decided to leave this message, and let you know
that
as of today, after using Office for... how many years? 15? 20?... I quit.
No
more crappy Office 2007 menus. As of today I change to Open Office. Do you
think I am the only one frustrated? Practically every person I know is
lamenting the change. The new menu organization is ridiculous.
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