I suspect that if toolbar/menu customization had been possible only through
VBA in the past, we'd hear a lot less moaning about the need to learn
RibbonX for Word 2007 customization.
The real problem is that MS depended too much on SQM data that suggested
users never customized the UI, overlooking the fact that (a) UI
customization, if captured at all by CEIP (and they weren't very confident
about that), would be captured only once, and that existing customizations
(created before Word 2002/2003) would not be represented at all. This led
the developers to believe that "users never customize the UI," which may
still be true for the majority (especially the large portion whose UI is
locked down by IT), but they overlooked a large and vocal minority who do
customize.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
"Jay Freedman" wrote in message
news
Just a couple more observations in the mix:
The "Ribbons are locked down" statement needs qualification. The
built-in Ribbon groups aren't customizable, but it _is_ possible to
remove any/all built-in groups and replace them with customized groups
that might be either slight modifications of the built-ins or
completely different. To do this, though, you need to get somewhat
familiar with RibbonX, which is what Patrick Schmid tries to do at
http://www.pschmid.net/office2007/ribbonx.
Yes, this is harder than customizing Word 2003 and earlier, and thus
not end-user-friendly. I suspect that's intentional, at the request of
the aforementioned large companies. They can afford to have someone
learn RibbonX, create customized templates for their needs, and have
everyone in the company forced to use the same customizations
(including IT support).
Eventually someone will come up with an end-user tool that makes
Ribbon changes easier. Patrick's RibbonCustomizer is close, but still
not as easy as many would like. Probably it will have to wait until MS
fixes some of the bugs and limitations in RibbonX itself.
On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:23:50 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill"
wrote:
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.....
--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
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