Is it too much to ask? Frankly yes. However a piece of software is
configured by default it will please some people and offend others. It is
not possible to create software that is all things to all men. For many
people, myself included - with many years experience in Word, the change to
2007 was both a shock to the system and resented for the extra work that it
required both to configure as I wanted it, and to find where Microsoft had
hidden all the familiar controls. It took me a long time to get used to
things but now it has become almost second nature, just as Word 2003 was
before - and Word is about to become version 2010, which adds a new learning
curve to the process.
As you indicated you have had to configure Word 2003 from its out of the box
condition to a setup that suits your way of working. If you want to employ
Word 2007, you are going to have to configure it. The ribbon is readily
configurable - and you can have the commands you require for a given
document type associated with the ribbon in that document's template. You
can put the tab(s) for your document at the start of the ribbon and it
rather than the Home tab will open with that document.
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Customize_Ribbon.htm
As for Section 508, I had not a clue what that was until I looked it up, and
it is typical government gobbledygook. Futhermore it only seems relevant to
the US, and Microsoft Word is aimed at the world, not simply the relatively
small American market place.
In the case of Microsoft Word you have to take what comes and adapt it to
your requirements - or use something else.
--
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
My web site
www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site
http://word.mvps.org
"clifftyll" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Stefan, for pointing out that the ribbon will be customizable in
Word
2010. But the problem isn't just my convenience. It's whether Microsoft is
willing to make its software help people create accessible documents.
So far, it has not. Over half of the functions on the Home tab of the Word
2007 ribbon change the appearance of text without adding tags that can be
picked up by a screen reader. And if they are all you use to create your
report, then you have to do your own widow/orphan control, footnote
placement, table of contents, and so on. And the resulting electronic file
will be inaccessible.
And what's worse is that virtually all Word training teaches people how to
use Microsoft's default buttons, not how to find and use the features that
make Word a powerful word processor. So it is all but impossible for
governmental agencies to find training that will teach their employees how
to
use Word to comply with the law known as Section 508.
I want the software bought by my employer to have a default interface that
leads people to do things the right way, so instead of spending my time
creating that interface, getting it distributed to my co-workers, and
developing customized training to teach them to use it, I can do the job I
was hired to do.
Is that too much to ask?