Word 2007 Learning Curve

Hi Jay,

In many large corporate settings (where Office apps are often run through thin clients, such as Citrix [i.e. slow no matter what
<G>] and not used full time by users, the Ribbon seems to be better accepted as in the previous incarnation, users were locked out
from doing any customization on their own that would 'stick' and the menus seemed to almost always be set to not show the full menus
(many folks don't realize there are additional menu commands below the ones shown in that mode and think that with the Ribbon MS
added a lot more features than just those new in 2007).

With 2007 corporate users may still not be allowed to make their own QAT that 'sticks', but they do have, as Beth mentioned some
help in that Template embedded QATs do seem to be allowed

For help desks, with the internet and broadband and higher speed connections being more common these days it's more likely that the
help desk will have the ability to 'take over' the users workstation or at least watch what they're doing to help out than in the
past, but they would still be slowed by having to figure out too many unique locations for items as Office is usually not the only
thing they have to support

Developer's also have a learning curve. It's more unfamiliarity than degree of difficulty in some cases that prevents folks from
providing customized ribbons for their users in corporate environments, and yes in both the Ribbon and the QAT there is room for
improvement in 'version next' <g>). For the Ribbon, scaling took a lot of work on MS on the backend and DIY (do it yourself)
Ribbons don't always scale as well and yes locking down the QAT graphics was an interesting choice, rather than providing a
'sandbox' area for having 'safe' graphics to use.

In addition to Patrick's work, Greg's article at
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Customize_Ribbon.htm
can be an interesting exercise for a first play with making your own custom ribbon.

In watching users with Office 2007, I've seen some frustration that the Themes aren't consistent in their effects across apps, but
I've also seen that folks are more willing to try something/undo it/try something else with the ribbon than with menus. Menus,
after you choose something, often 'go away', and unless you happened to remember what you just clicked, you have to hunt for the
same spot to try again With the Ribbon, it's still there, pretty much where you left it unless you move the context point in your
document, so you can try until more or less satisfied.

Having had to write my own UI for programs for years, then add custom commands to WordStar and beyond, I can appreciate how much
'fun' selling and implementing then troubleshooting each of the changes within MS must have been. To their credit, MS hasn't fallen
back on the
'it's version 1' (when speaking of the Ribbon) as basically, it does work very well for the most part for day in/day out tasks.

The lack of use of text labels on the QAT (since one of Jensen's blog's statements was that there research said the ribbon had icons
plus text because it worked better) came down, in part, to how much screen space it would take up both vertically and how many QAT
items you could put across a screen with and without text. Tradeoff/settlement/compromise/lack of time to make more changes... who
can say for sure

============
<<"Jay Freedman" <jay.freedman DeleteThis @verizon.net> wrote in message news:2hjgn3ta7rjb8dl2l0j0ud6cvrfsb89g18@4ax.com...
Besides that, there's the argument that Jonathan West has been
pressing for lo these many months, that one developer can make a
template containing customizations and macros that are then used by
hundreds or thousands of end users. SQM doesn't capture any of that.


Agreed that enforcing a standard for UI customizations isn't a "bad
thing". But according to Jensen that consideration was secondary to
the overload of commands that would have made the menu/toolbar
paradigm unworkable. I'm not sure I completely buy that for 2007, but
I think the feeling was that they'd get the pain out of the way this
time so people will accept it better in the next version.

Two things that would make the QAT-primary approach easier to accept:
distinctive icons or text for all QAT buttons (no more anonymous green
circles), and the ability to use custom icons made from arbitrary
bitmaps (preferably for any command, but at least for macros).>>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Suzanne

It is a useful and valuable feature - but it is a nightmare to change the
button faces and you can end up with several tools all with the same button
face or with button faces that are irrelevant to Word or any of its
commands. A simple example is the ParaPageBreakBefore button face is a green
Bullet when added to the QAT: what relevance to real life is a green bullet.
It is also share by many other commands too, so you can fill the QAT with
green bullets if you love green bullets.

My point is that although I now believe that Ribbons (and the QAT) are a way
forward, until it can be customised out-of-the-box without the need for
programming skills, it falls down BADLY.

Terry

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.DeleteThis@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:Olt1lwwSIHA.2268@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> While I agree that a customizable ribbon or tab would be helpful, it has
> been pointed out that you can create a specialize QAT for a specific
> template. Don't think, however, that I am in any way defending the loss of
> customizability. I haven't yet "upgraded" to Office 2007, but I'm going to
> be one of the loudest whiners when I do, as I have highly customized my
> Word 2003 UI (with some customizations probably dating back to Word 2.0).
>
> --
> Suzanne S. Barnhill
> Microsoft MVP (Word)
> Words into Type
> Fairhope, Alabama USA
>
> "Terry Farrell" <mvpng.DeleteThis@po193qw.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:92DA4CE4-ED10-4910-939E-424F20E85FE6@microsoft.com...
>> Paul
>>
>> I agree: the current implementation makes it harder for all and I cannot
>> see what the long-term advantages are to anyone that the Ribbons are
>> locked down so tightly.
>>
>> What I would like to see is the ordinary user being able to create their
>> own 'Home' Ribbon that can be tied in with a template. On this ribbon,
>> the user can add whatever groups they want from any of the other standard
>> ribbons and remove/change the contents of these groups.
>>
>> For example, my Home ribbon would remove the Clipboard group (a real
>> waste of screen space), remove much of the Font and Paragraph group tools
>> (but adding a few more useful tools) and thus making loads more space for
>> styles.
>>
>> Terry
>>
>> "Paul Gauci" <PaulGauci.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C26EECF4-4EA3-44D5-9457-FB86CE38FDC2@microsoft.com...
>>> OK - but how about the needs of companies (large and small) who use
>>> customised styles/templates/toolbars/icons etc to standardise the
>>> presentations of letters, reports, etc?
>>>
>>> For instance, when such companies work with outsiders (say, when they
>>> outsource), all they had to do with 2003 was to provide their
>>> sub-contractors
>>> with their customised templates/toolbars/icons etc and save considerable
>>> time
>>> and energy on post writing-up formatting.
>>>
>>> Also, freelancers who work/ed for different companies using their
>>> clients'
>>> customised templates/toolbars/icons can/could be very efficient when
>>> 2003
>>> customisations are/were well designed. It appears to me that they will
>>> have
>>> problems being as efficient with 2007.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Paul Gauci
>>>
>>>
>>> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
>>>
>>>> No, but that would be why customization would make it difficult to
>>>> support.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Suzanne S. Barnhill
>>>> Microsoft MVP (Word)
>>>> Words into Type
>>>> Fairhope, Alabama USA
>>>>
>>>> "Terry Farrell" <mvpng.DeleteThis@po193qw.co.uk> wrote in message
>>>> news:EF69B8E3-36A8-4550-A569-7681BBEE6817@microsoft.com...
>>>> >I see. So we dumb down Word to help the helpers?
>>>> >
>>>> > Terry
>>>> >
>>>> > "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.DeleteThis@mvps.org> wrote in message
>>>> > news:%23GyRmfjSIHA.4440@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>> >> Because the help desk person is not looking at the same screen the
>>>> >> user
>>>> >> is, so the user is referring to buttons and menu items the IT person
>>>> >> may
>>>> >> not even be aware exist, much less have in his UI.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> --
>>>> >> Suzanne S. Barnhill
>>>> >> Microsoft MVP (Word)
>>>> >> Words into Type
>>>> >> Fairhope, Alabama USA
>>>> >>
>>>> >> "Terry Farrell" <mvpng.DeleteThis@po193qw.co.uk> wrote in message
>>>> >> news:4A6CDCD9-779C-4264-8BEF-5EC9DD32A17A@microsoft.com...
>>>> >>> Gordon
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> I'm not sure why this should be a support nightmare. If you use
>>>> >>> roaming
>>>> >>> profiles, surely, the customisations stay with the user. So if I
>>>> >>> log
>>>> >>> into any computer on the network, I get My Profile with My Desktop
>>>> >>> displayed and in Word I will see all my toolbars as I want to use
>>>> >>> them.
>>>> >>> Why is that a support nightmare?
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> Terry
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> "Gordon" <gbplinux.DeleteThis@gmail.com.invalid> wrote in message
>>>> >>> news:OGWaYUhSIHA.748@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>> >>>> "Terry Farrell" <mvpng.DeleteThis@po193qw.co.uk> wrote in message
>>>> >>>> news:90BB1CBE-1740-44AC-803A-28B104641260@microsoft.com...
>>>> >>>>> In previous versions, I always modified the Toolbars. Many of the
>>>> >>>>> tools I never used (such as cut, copy, past, bold, italics
>>>> >>>>> underline,
>>>> >>>>> etc.) I always dragged off and added useful tools that were
>>>> >>>>> hidden
>>>> >>>>> (such as ParaPageBreakBefore, Doc Properties, File New... and
>>>> >>>>> custom
>>>> >>>>> macros, etc.).
>>>> >>>>>
>>>> >>>>> I always like that there were always so many different ways to
>>>> >>>>> work in
>>>> >>>>> Word that allowed users to customize and work in a way that
>>>> >>>>> suited
>>>> >>>>> themselves and their principal tasks. To me, much of this choice
>>>> >>>>> seems
>>>> >>>>> to have been removed. I was privileged to be shown demos of the
>>>> >>>>> proposed Ribbon before it went beta and was enthusiastic as I
>>>> >>>>> could
>>>> >>>>> see that so many more commands could be made available for users,
>>>> >>>>> rather than having to dig deep to find the hidden nest of tools
>>>> >>>>> available. But I wasn't aware of how rigid the Ribbon was to be
>>>> >>>>> until
>>>> >>>>> beta testing started. I was deeply disappointed and I still am.
>>>> >>>>> And I
>>>> >>>>> will remain disappointed until the Ribbon is user customizable
>>>> >>>>> out-of-the-box.
>>>> >>>>>
>>>> >>>>> Terry
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> I hear what you say, but from a support perspective in a
>>>> >>>> commercial
>>>> >>>> environment, a User customising ANYTHING on an individual basis
>>>> >>>> turns
>>>> >>>> into a support/helpdesk nightmare.....
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
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