Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 18th Sep 2008 19:09 UTC
We all know that Windows 7 is on its way, planned for release somewhere late 2009 or early 2010. We already know it will have a multitouch framework, no major kernel and/or driver framework changes, and a new taskbar people at Microsoft are not supposed to talk about right now. The firs two milestone releases didn't appear to be very exciting, but now there is - supposedly - a milestone 3 (build 6780) release, and there is a screenshot, and more information on UI changes. According to Microsoft blogger Stephen Chapman, the ribbon will make its way to Windows 7.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
Let's get something out of the way: I'm a big mac head. That said, Office 2007 is a dream for me. I *love* the ribbon interface. Microsoft has hit a home run here. They even have an infinitely deep "file" menu in the upper left hand corner. Well done. The more I think about it, the more I realize the depth of design that went into it. It's really that good.
The only downside I can really see is that as the window changes width, the position of the toolbar entries shift around as they shrink to fit the width, and the fact that some people simply can't grasp tabbed interfaces of any kind. These are no problem for me personally, but I know that my mom can't find anything on a computer unless it's in the same exact spot as before. She's asked me on numerous occasions how to do something, and almost inevitably what she wants is accomplished by clicking the big, honking, **pulsating** button which is jumping out at her screaming "God, woman, just click me!" A typical dialogue might go something like this:
--How do I send this mail?
--Click the send mail button.
--There's no send mail button.
(I walk over and click the send mail button which is clearly visible.)
--Did you even *look* for it?
How much worse it will be when the button isn't even on screen!
I do not look forward to the day when I have to help people who can't figure out that in the Office 2007 ribbon, things move for space constraints, and that sometimes the functionality is in a different tab. I think it's a reasonable tradeoff which allows Office to using the toolbar space for big buttons when available, and it's also a reasonable method of avoiding the dreaded "toolbar too full" chevron. The modality of tabs is why I believe a regular menubar of some sort must remain in the application. Some people simply cannot operate modally. Period.
On another note, what's annoying for me, and it could be just my peevishness, is that the quick access toolbar shifts the centering of the text in the title bar. I disable that toolbar, though it probably could be useful, just because it is disorienting to have the text move.
It's strange to see after all these years that we're moving away from a menubar-and-toolbar paradigm, and toward pop-up menus in toolbars, as we've finally figured out how to effectively scale the menu-and-toolbar interface. I believe this is a huge and a positive shift. Menubars or a main application-level menu should always be present as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not sure if I like the decentralization of functions in the toolbar without some menubar system behind it. (As I understand it, the menubar is supposed to be the fallback containing all of an application's functionality, so if you can't find something, it'll be in the menubar.) That said, bring on more Office 2007 toolbars. I can't get enough of them!
Edited 2008-09-19 04:19 UTC