Using the new Office with touch
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 18th Jul 2012 22:41 UTC
Features, Office "On Monday in San Francisco we took the wraps off of the new Office's touch experience designed for Windows 8. We showed the new touch-optimized Windows 8-style app for OneNote, and we showed how we've touch-enabled Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other apps on the desktop. The new Office is designed for a great experience whether you're sitting on a couch with a tablet, or at a desk with a mouse and keyboard. It makes common tasks fast, fluid, and intuitive, while still enabling the rich capabilities required to create high-quality documents. In this post I'll walk you through the thinking, engineering process and design framework we used to reimagine these experiences for touch."
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RE[5]: Comment by Gone fishing
by tomcat on Thu 19th Jul 2012 19:47 UTC in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by Gone fishing"
tomcat
Member since:
2006-01-06

I can imagine touch screens having specialized uses and CAD could make sense on appropriate hardware but this is MS office word-processing, spreed sheets etc. This just feels like something being hyped up to separate fools from their money with very limited usefulness in general computing. All that reaching over the keyboard to touch the screen also looks like a recipe for backache.


The industry has been moving to mobile form factors that favor touch as a primary input source. But it's probably instructive to point out that Windows Surface is a dual mode device; meaning, it can act as either a tablet or a laptop. If you prefer using a mouse, use it. I think we're going to see a lot more of these same kinds of dual-mode devices. Which provides you with enough flexibility to decide which you like better.

Edited 2012-07-19 19:49 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

Gone fishing Member since:
2006-02-22

I think before you edited your post you wrote that for some computing tasks touch was a more productive way of imputing data to a computer.But what tasks are made easier by touching the screen? I can see its handy on a phone or small mobile iToy but on a computer we are going to use MS Office on what will be improved?

But it's probably instructive to point out that Windows Surface is a dual mode device; meaning, it can act as either a tablet or a laptop


I suppose it makes sense, pad and touch when its being used as a toy and keyboard when its being used as a tool

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[7]: Comment by Gone fishing
by tomcat on Thu 19th Jul 2012 20:23 in reply to "RE[6]: Comment by Gone fishing"
tomcat Member since:
2006-01-06

I think before you edited your post you wrote that for some computing tasks touch was a more productive way of imputing data to a computer.But what tasks are made easier by touching the screen? I can see its handy on a phone or small mobile iToy but on a computer we are going to use MS Office on what will be improved?


I wasn't referring specifically to Office. There are plenty of touch-based UIs that are much more natural than mouse-based UIs.

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[7]: Comment by Gone fishing
by zima on Sat 21st Jul 2012 23:34 in reply to "RE[6]: Comment by Gone fishing"
zima Member since:
2005-07-06

wrote that for some computing tasks touch was a more productive way of imputing data to a computer.But what tasks are made easier by touching the screen?

Like, ~drawing?...

Reply Parent Score: 2