[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Word MVPs have provided feedback to MS, individually and collectively,
throughout the development process. It's not as if this UI had burst upon an
unsuspecting world: Jensen Harris started documenting it in his blog
(http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/) in September 2005. The only thing that will
change Microsoft's direction is massive failure of corporate America to
adopt the new version. But, given the reluctance of many corporations to
upgrade early in the product life cycle, it may take a while for this
failure to become evident.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Mark's points are so important, and are worth re-reading and thinking
about.
I especially like Number 5: It's as though the main purpose of Word is
fancy functions to manage fancy documents, rather than the basic task of
typing and editing text. MS, in its desire for innovation for the sake of
innovation, has lost sight of what most people spend their time doing with
Word, which is typing, editing, and formatting text.

Based on the unhappiness expressed by several respected MVPs, something
I've
never seen before in the eight years I've been frequenting the Word
newsgroups, I think there is a basis for some kind of collective statement
or petition to Microsoft from the newsgroups, led by the MVPs, pointing
out
the serious problems with Word 2007 and asking for a major retooling,
including restoring basic features that have been taken away like the
menus
and toolbars. Terry said his own requests and suggestions had been
rebuffed. But what if a bunch of MVPs and other interested Word users
spoke
together? We might not win, but Microsoft could not completely ignore us
either. They would have to face the fact that intelligent people deeply
interested in Word see serious problems here.

Word experts of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your
Microsoft Office Button.

Larry


wrote in message
oups.com...
I don't find that to be true at all. I coach a firm of 55 employees
in 4 offices, most of whom were with the company when it switched from
WP to Word a few weeks before I arrived, so their learning curve was
unpleasant. Naturally with that mindset they'd been adapting slowly.
The two most critical things that appealed to them and uplifted their
collective viewpoint were macros and keyboard shortcuts.

Once they were shown these things, they adored them, and were unnerved
(often greatly) when a new or foreign PC didn't have them. Everyone
seems to appreciate keyboard shortcuts and the ability to remap them.
(Most never use the Bold or Italic buttons anymore. It's just easier
not to move your hand from the keyboard.) I placed a menu-building
add-in on each system to simplify over 70 procedures, often complex
ones that no average user would bother to do manually. It runs each
of these macros in 2 or 3 clicks or keystrokes, and the staff is now
in love with it. Word 2007 will slow or stifle this.

I think 5 concepts now being widely offered as fact are simply wrong
at base: (1) the average user is too dumb & lazy to want to improve
efficiency or reduce fatigue; (2) power users are close-minded
curmudgeons who are resistant to any change on general principle; (3)
users as a whole are such utter sheep that everyone will eventually
submit to Microsoft's peverse rug-yank; (4) the ribbon is more
inherently more efficient than the menus; and (5) clicks or keystrokes
that invoke commands are a significant part of the document-creating
or -editing experience. (They're not; most average users' time spent
at the computer is used for typing or scrolling, not finding specific
commands on menus or buttons. That much should be obvious.)

Word 2007 may look cute to newbies or amusing for the idle or self-
employed, but anyone who works in a standard office setting facing
normal concerns about deadlines and overhead will be hopelessly
injured if they upgrade.

I'm with Larry. I think 2007 is an abomination that invites revolt.
Yes, I'm a power user. Folks here seem almost willing to imply that's
a bad thing.

Mark

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
But can you accept that the majority of users do NOT use Word the way
you
do? The vast majority of them would never think of going to the
trouble
to
customize Word this way even if they were told how, and most have no
desire
to use Word this way. I find that most users are not interested in
keyboard
shortcuts at all.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Larry" wrote in message
...


Also, if memory serves correctly, years ago Beth helped me with
macros
to
prevent the vertical and horizonal scroll bars from ever appearing
unless
I
wanted them (and helped me with a lot of other things as well). It
was a
bit of a trick. Word just wanted those ugly scroll bars to keep
popping
up.
Only serious customization could get around that. But once we had
it,
it
was never an issue again. I have simple keystrokes to toggle the
scrollbars
when I want them, not when Microsoft wants them. My aim in that case
and
generally has been to keep all unnecessary clutter out of the Word
window.
So I got rid of all toolbar buttons that I don't use, and replaced
the
Standard and Formatting toolbars with one simplified toolbar. I
never
display the Ruler except when I need it. Also, the blue background
screen
is "cooler," easier on the eyes. So the whole look is simple and
pleasing
to the eye. To me, the way Word looks when it opens in its default
state
is
an incredible eyesore.

The other thing for me is to have an integrated environment, where I
do
things with the minimum of keystrokes or mouseclicks. For example,
I
developed a single key command (Num1) to toggle the Blue background
off
and
on. I have a single key command (Num2) which not only toggles the
capitalization of a word, but if there's a selection going up to the
start
of a word, it cuts the selection and toggles the capitalization of
the
first
letter of the word immediately following the selection. I have
three
custom
menus with many macros I use constantly, every one of those macros
takes
just two keystrokes, Alt+Letter, Letter. I'm still not sure if it's
posible
to replicate something like that in 2007.

Things that take two steps in the older versions (even without my
customizations), take three or more steps in 2007, things that take
one
step
in the older versions (like opening the Window menu via keystroke)
take
two
steps in 2007. This is totally unacceptable. The whole point is
that
things that you do often be done with the minimum of keystrokes.

So my approach is to make Word's look as simple as possible, and
Word's
operation as simple as possible.

Word 2007 is not only the opposite of that, it basically makes it
impossible
to customize around it. It imposes so much more on you (that
incredibly
complicated, hyperactive Ribbon) and makes it impossible to escape
it.




"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the
first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this
he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and
are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade
me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of
operation
was
for the Greater Good.


"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Styles were merely an example that came to mind at the time.

You know, Larry, just based on previous discussions I've had
with
you
on
topics of an even more simiplic nature I know there nothing I
can
say
to
you
that will change your mind...