Re: How do I make Office look like a normal application?
- From: "Ben M. Schorr - MVP (OneNote)" <bens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:43:53 +0000
Harder vs. Easier to use is going to be pretty subjective. The reality is that 4 of the top 10 feature requests from Word 2003 were for things that were ALREADY in the product. The menu system had grown unwieldy and users didn't know how to find things.
A friend at Microsoft tells me he gets compliments all the time on a "Great new feature!" in Office 2007 and often those features are things that have been in Office for years. Again, users couldn't find it.
Not everybody loves the Ribbon. You're not going to design a UI that 400 million people universally love. But the intent was to make the features more discoverable to the end users and it appears to me that it has accomplished that.
Power users can argue about whether it saves clicks or not if they want to - they constitute a tiny percentage of the total Office User Base. Corporate desktop support people are glad they don't have to field as many calls from users who want to know how to add a Watermark to their documents.
--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
http://www.officeforlawyers.com/onenote.htm
"Gemini" <Gemini@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:849FDAB5-6FE1-46F8-B219-FE0FD69939A4@xxxxxxxxxxxxx:
Chris, that' pretty much the claim Jensen Harris made. However, when asked
for data, he didn't respond at all. Based on JH's description of the data
collection, it rather looks like experienced users were NOT well represented
in the data sample. It is also very doubtful whether users behind corporate
firewalls were properly represented.
All in all, there's no data to prove that menus were harder to use than the
Ribbon. As a matter of fact, posts from long time users on several boards
indicate quite the opposite.
As far as suppliers not alienating their customers is concerned, you're
largely correct. However, in this case, MS has been quite arrogant. For one,
they did not provide an alternative to the Ribbon. Secondly, despite the tons
of requests they've received, typically from long time users, they've refused
to provide an alternative the Ribbon. I'm not the only long term MS customer
who is now looking into other (non-MS) alternatives.
In business, one provides whatever the customer wants. Failure to do that is
an invitation for the customers to start looking elsewhere. That's happening
with Office apps now.
MS would be VERY SMART to come out with a "classic" UI alternative to the
Ribbon, for those who do not want to mess with it. That'll clearly signal
that MS is indeed listening to the customer's voice.
--Gemini
"Chris Game" wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:19:15 -0700 (PDT), Harlan Grove wrote:
>
> > No. They have an interest in selling their own software and making
> > it more difficult for users to use non-Microsoft software. The
> > ribbon hasn't reduced user confusion or errors.
>
> No. No supplier tries to alienate their customers. I think you'll
> find that customers loose their way in the long menus rather more
> than in the ribbon.
> --
> Chris Game
>
> "I do not write for such dull elves,
> As have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves."
> -- Jane Austen
>
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