Other Software > Developer's Corner
Ribbon UI - is it really THAT good?
sazzen:
Late to the party but somebody said Ribbon! I, and thousands of others, despise the ribbon. I avoid any software that uses it. It takes up way too much room and, like that screenshot in Renegade's post, it's a cluttered mess. Too bad all software doesn't give users the choice. Download the app with the ribbon, or download the app without. Choices. My favorite thing!
phitsc:
Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice
Carol Haynes:
I have been using Word since Word 2 (and other Office apps for nearly as long) - and in most incarnations since. I know it is a personal choice but having used 2007 and 2010 for a couple of years now I really wouldn't want to go back to the old shifting menu and random icons of earlier versions - I MUCH prefer the ribbon. Once you know where things are they are just there and I find the whole layout o be far more intuitive. I have to say initially I was very sceptical and thought it was just a gimic to sell 2007 - a new version with few new actual features - but in reality I think the ribbon is well thought out and works well. I suppose it would be nice to have proper menus and the old interface (at least as an option) but that would just mean yet another layer of backward compatibility rubbish in every new release.
Most of the complaints seem to come from people not wanting to change old habits - fine stick with Office 2002 or 2003 - they still work in Windows 7 and 8. Given that most people only use Office to do basic typing of documents, build pretty simple spreadsheets and manage email Office 2002/2003 are perfectly usable for most needs so why upgrade if you hate the new versions so much?
Having said that a little bit of time spent with an open mind and a willingness to change old habits makes the ribbon much more consistent and productive than the old system. There are still keyboard shortcuts and it can take up virtually zero sceen space with autohide on.
In 2010 the ribbon is customisable so you can tweak things around if you want so what is the big deal?
40hz:
Interesting how little Microsoft seems to have considered the ribbon (and Office) when creating their new champion Metro, which they plan on forcing everyone over to eventually. See OSNews article on Office problems with Metro here.
So what's next for the ribbon now that Metro is all the rage in Redmond?
It would be one thing if Metro were just the planned tablet interface. But it's not. It's going to be THE interface.
The Office dev group had a problem with Microsoft getting too far into a tablet mindset. Now I think we can see it's pretty obvious why. Something as complex as Office doesn't shoehorn into the tablet paradigm without a major loss of power and features.
Eventually we'll get to see just how important that is to the consumers and business users.
Although I guess they could always move Office (and any other interface that won't fit) completely up to the cloud and provide it through a browser window. That would at least provide a temporary accommodation. And allow them to pretend there's no problem with the Metro 'vision.' ;D
Carol Haynes:
If Microsoft goes down the 'Windows is dead' route I think we can also safely say at the point 'Microsoft is dead'
I wouldn't be surprised if it happens but if it does then most computer users (and all business users) will either still be on creaking Windows 7 (or even XP) in 30 years time or will have shifted to Linux or Mac. In fact even as an Apple hater i could see my self moving to Mac before I would accept Metro as a desktop OS.
There is no way that businesses are going to shift to Metro in the office.
Even Apple aren't stupid enough to say that desktop and laptop computers will be forced to iOS (much as I am sure they would love to).
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