Hi Terry,
To an extent I agree, for support folks and corporate types who locked down everything anyway, for many users the Ribbon is 'more
predictable' and they probably don't see that anything has been lost. In too many companies the 'show menus after a short delay')
is what folks live with after each log in when they're in prior versions. That was pretty much taken away.
As to customizing the ribbon, it's true that there there isn't the drag and drop UI built in, but customizing the ribbon via the
RibbonX tools and 'language' to rearrange everything is probably not any higher degree of difficulty than it would be to write a
macro in VBA (in fact it's easier for me to follow the outline structure of the RibbonX g), but surprisingly very few folks seem
to have jumped into that. There is even at least one MS tool, although it's not a WYSIWYG one
What is 'fun' is to start Word in Safe Mode (hold ctrl key when starting for those reading who may not be familiar with it) and
seeing the 'regular' ribbon if you have customized positions g. Then you can really get confused.
Over time, I've noted that there is a definite pause now when I start a prior version and go looking for things as the 'muscle
memory' now 'fights' to want to go to the Word 2007 places as first choice when using the mouse g.
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"Terry Farrell" wrote in message ...
I don't think anyone will argue that the transition is far more difficult
than previous versions. It does get better the more familiar you become but
I am convinced that it is NOT easier or more intuitive to use than previous
versions. However, this may be because I have been a Word user since Word 2
which is making me prejudiced against this major interface change.
The way I see this is that the old interface was like the steering wheel of
a car: it is intuitive and works well for everyone whether you are an old
granny out shopping or an F1 ace winning the Monaco Grand Prix. A joy stick
or a drive-by-wire touch pad would be a disaster for the majority of normal
drivers. I think of the ribbon as the latter.
Given a 'once and for all' choice between Office 2003 and Office 2007, I
have no doubts that I would choose the former because I am concerned that
the developers will not resolve the gaping holes they have made of the
latter's interface implementation.
Yes, I like the look and idea of the Ribbon, but I don't like the choice of
tools that have been added in each group. As far as I am concerned, until a
user is able to change the layout and tools on the ribbons and create a
custom ribbon straight out of the box without need for third party tools, it
is a failure. To me the QAT is just a last minute panic measure to overcome
the inflexibilities of the Ribbons.
--
Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP
*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*