Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.RemoveThis@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:ONMpLOxyIHA.2188@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> The experience seems to be that the new UI is more intuitive for brand-new
> users and not too difficult for casual users to get used to. Longtime
> power users, the ones who knew where every command was on every menu and
> where every button was in every dialog or on every toolbar (and had their
> toolbars and menus extensively customized), are the ones who are really
> suffering.
>

Interesting. As an aside, and as a "power" user of Excel (mainly - since
Office 95) - I never had any cause to do ANY customization of toolbars.....I
wonder why people are so obsessed with it?

"Gordon" wrote:

> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.DeleteThis@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:ONMpLOxyIHA.2188@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> > The experience seems to be that the new UI is more intuitive for brand-new
> > users and not too difficult for casual users to get used to. Longtime
> > power users, the ones who knew where every command was on every menu and
> > where every button was in every dialog or on every toolbar (and had their
> > toolbars and menus extensively customized), are the ones who are really
> > suffering.
> >

But, since we represent less than 1% (I guess) of all users, we don't count!

> Interesting. As an aside, and as a "power" user of Excel (mainly - since
> Office 95) - I never had any cause to do ANY customization of toolbars.....I
> wonder why people are so obsessed with it?

Quick examples:
In Word, I always use "Format > Paragraph... > Line and Page Breaks > Page
Break Before > OK" which is 5 clicks. (This is because I abhor manual Page
Break as they have too often caused me grief...) Therefore, I added this
command to the tool bar... Now, one click.
In addition, I often need to get to the “Advanced Layout� tab (Object
Format) to adjust object position on a page, or to get information. Normally,
this is between 4 and 6 clicks away (depending on what you did last time you
displayed the Object Format dialog). So I have a macro that opens it directly
and I have added a button on the drawing toolbar...

If you do many repetitive tasks or often use the same tools to do diverse
tasks, it is definitely helpful to be able to customize the toolbars... This
is why 2007 is a pain to those who used to have extensive customizations in
order to make their job easier. One QAT to customize isn’t the same as over
20 toolbars you can customize according to the type of tasks that needs to be
performed...

I would never classify myself as a power user, but I do claim to be competent
at using Word, Excel, and Access - and know enough about PowerPoint to get by
with simple presentations.
I have always disliked those operations that took multiple mouse clicks to
activate. I have thus been an advocate of Toolbar modifications, since I
first learned how ten years ago. The inflexability in Office 2007 is very
vexing. Kind of like my local government dictating the type of vehicle I can
park in my driveway, which they attempted to do.


"Gordon" wrote:

> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill RemoveThis @mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:ONMpLOxyIHA.2188@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> > The experience seems to be that the new UI is more intuitive for brand-new
> > users and not too difficult for casual users to get used to. Longtime
> > power users, the ones who knew where every command was on every menu and
> > where every button was in every dialog or on every toolbar (and had their
> > toolbars and menus extensively customized), are the ones who are really
> > suffering.
> >
>
> Interesting. As an aside, and as a "power" user of Excel (mainly - since
> Office 95) - I never had any cause to do ANY customization of toolbars.....I
> wonder why people are so obsessed with it?
>
>

I'm constantly finding things to add to the toolbar in Word 2003, though
every time I do, it is with a twinge of sadness, realizing it will be much
more difficult in Word 2007. LIke Jean-Guy, I have a button for "Page break
before" (though I don't actually use that one often) but also buttons for
"Keep with next" and "Keep lines together" (and thanks, Robert Franz for the
attractive button icons). One big advantage of all of these is that they're
toggles and display the state of the current paragraph, so it's easy to see
whether a paragraph has the given formatting (the square bullet tells you
they have one or more of the above, but not which one).

Just the other day it occurred to me that there might be a button for File |
Send To | Mail Recipient (As Attachment). I figured I might have to create
my own button icon (or use the one for the existing E-mail button, which I
never use), but to my delight there was not only a readymade command but one
with a button icon! I slapped myself silly for not realizing this many moons
ago--so many wasted mouse clicks!

BTW, Jean-Guy, I understand you can have different QATs for different
templates--not the same as having toolbars you can turn on and off in any
template, but a start.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"Jean-Guy Marcil" <JeanGuyMarcil.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:319688D6-0EDF-46D7-94D7-24C50C1F8B91@microsoft.com...
> "Gordon" wrote:
>
>> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.RemoveThis@mvps.org> wrote in message
>> news:ONMpLOxyIHA.2188@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> > The experience seems to be that the new UI is more intuitive for
>> > brand-new
>> > users and not too difficult for casual users to get used to. Longtime
>> > power users, the ones who knew where every command was on every menu
>> > and
>> > where every button was in every dialog or on every toolbar (and had
>> > their
>> > toolbars and menus extensively customized), are the ones who are really
>> > suffering.
>> >
>
> But, since we represent less than 1% (I guess) of all users, we don't
> count!
>
>> Interesting. As an aside, and as a "power" user of Excel (mainly - since
>> Office 95) - I never had any cause to do ANY customization of
>> toolbars.....I
>> wonder why people are so obsessed with it?
>
> Quick examples:
> In Word, I always use "Format > Paragraph... > Line and Page Breaks > Page
> Break Before > OK" which is 5 clicks. (This is because I abhor manual Page
> Break as they have too often caused me grief...) Therefore, I added this
> command to the tool bar... Now, one click.
> In addition, I often need to get to the "Advanced Layout" tab (Object
> Format) to adjust object position on a page, or to get information.
> Normally,
> this is between 4 and 6 clicks away (depending on what you did last time
> you
> displayed the Object Format dialog). So I have a macro that opens it
> directly
> and I have added a button on the drawing toolbar...
>
> If you do many repetitive tasks or often use the same tools to do diverse
> tasks, it is definitely helpful to be able to customize the toolbars...
> This
> is why 2007 is a pain to those who used to have extensive customizations
> in
> order to make their job easier. One QAT to customize isn't the same as
> over
> 20 toolbars you can customize according to the type of tasks that needs to
> be
> performed...
>

I don't think anyone will argue that the transition is far more difficult
than previous versions. It does get better the more familiar you become but
I am convinced that it is NOT easier or more intuitive to use than previous
versions. However, this may be because I have been a Word user since Word 2
which is making me prejudiced against this major interface change.

The way I see this is that the old interface was like the steering wheel of
a car: it is intuitive and works well for everyone whether you are an old
granny out shopping or an F1 ace winning the Monaco Grand Prix. A joy stick
or a drive-by-wire touch pad would be a disaster for the majority of normal
drivers. I think of the ribbon as the latter.

Given a 'once and for all' choice between Office 2003 and Office 2007, I
have no doubts that I would choose the former because I am concerned that
the developers will not resolve the gaping holes they have made of the
latter's interface implementation.

Yes, I like the look and idea of the Ribbon, but I don't like the choice of
tools that have been added in each group. As far as I am concerned, until a
user is able to change the layout and tools on the ribbons and create a
custom ribbon straight out of the box without need for third party tools, it
is a failure. To me the QAT is just a last minute panic measure to overcome
the inflexibilities of the Ribbons.

--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

"PA" <PA DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:25C462DF-F965-459E-8D7F-5C0401D66C72@microsoft.com...
>I hope it just that this new interface is still strange to me, but I am
> finding the migration from Office 2007 to be far more difficult than was
> any
> previous change.
> I have used Office since version 97 (in 1998) and have migrated to new
> releases as the minds in Washington state decided it was time for me to
> change. Those were all painless.
> Any and all opinion are welcomed to help enlighten me.
>
> And by the way, Ron deBruin, an Excel MVP has an excellent site at
> http://www.rondebruin.nl/0307commands.html. It is related to Excel, but
> may
> prove valuable for Word and PowerPoint as well.
>

Additionally, there are hundreds and hundreds of Word tools that are not on
any toolbar or under any menu (I printed them out once and it was over 4
pages long and I still don't know what half of them do). Without
customisation, you cannot get at them at all - in fact, most users don't
even know they exist because they don't know where to look. So creating a
custom template with custom tools for a particular application for 'dodgy
users' can be a boon to productivity: once the user knows that there's a
magic tool to do a complex task, it will be used.

Terry Farrell

"Jean-Guy Marcil" <JeanGuyMarcil.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:319688D6-0EDF-46D7-94D7-24C50C1F8B91@microsoft.com...
> "Gordon" wrote:
>
>> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.DeleteThis@mvps.org> wrote in message
>> news:ONMpLOxyIHA.2188@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> > The experience seems to be that the new UI is more intuitive for
>> > brand-new
>> > users and not too difficult for casual users to get used to. Longtime
>> > power users, the ones who knew where every command was on every menu
>> > and
>> > where every button was in every dialog or on every toolbar (and had
>> > their
>> > toolbars and menus extensively customized), are the ones who are really
>> > suffering.
>> >
>
> But, since we represent less than 1% (I guess) of all users, we don't
> count!
>
>> Interesting. As an aside, and as a "power" user of Excel (mainly - since
>> Office 95) - I never had any cause to do ANY customization of
>> toolbars.....I
>> wonder why people are so obsessed with it?
>
> Quick examples:
> In Word, I always use "Format > Paragraph... > Line and Page Breaks > Page
> Break Before > OK" which is 5 clicks. (This is because I abhor manual Page
> Break as they have too often caused me grief...) Therefore, I added this
> command to the tool bar... Now, one click.
> In addition, I often need to get to the “Advanced Layout� tab (Object
> Format) to adjust object position on a page, or to get information.
> Normally,
> this is between 4 and 6 clicks away (depending on what you did last time
> you
> displayed the Object Format dialog). So I have a macro that opens it
> directly
> and I have added a button on the drawing toolbar...
>
> If you do many repetitive tasks or often use the same tools to do diverse
> tasks, it is definitely helpful to be able to customize the toolbars...
> This
> is why 2007 is a pain to those who used to have extensive customizations
> in
> order to make their job easier. One QAT to customize isn’t the same as
> over
> 20 toolbars you can customize according to the type of tasks that needs to
> be
> performed...
>