Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"

Martin

Two things to help your neighbour...

There is the Quick Access Toolbar (the QAT). This lets you add tools that
are displayed on the Ribbons. The Print Preview button is one of those that
is a must to add.

This brings up the second point. That Pizza button in the top left corner of
the Word screen is actually the Office button and performs many of the
functions of the old File menu and opens using Alt+F. Quite a few upgraders
take a while to realise that it isn't just a decoration (embarrassingly,
that included me). Clicking on the Print button in the Office menu reveals
the Print Preview command.

But this brings us back to what is intuitive about Word 2007's ribbons? In
my opinion, not much. Intuitive would suggest that the Print Preview command
should be part of the Document Views group on the View ribbon - equally if
not more logically that under the Office button, Print command.

My QAT is quite large which suggest to me that the intuitive part of the
ribbons is missing.

Terry Farrell

"Martin C" <martinC RemoveThis @invalid.com> wrote in message
news:4852766c$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> Being a relative power user of Word myself, I am like a lot of others that
> find 2007 quite difficult to use as I have trouble finding anything in it.
> Only last night, I was asked by a neighbour to help her out with some
> issues she was having doing relatively simple things with Word 2007.
> Although I managed to help her out, it was a struggle.
>
> Admittedly, I have hardly used 2007 at all, so this could be why I had
> trouble finding things. The point here is that my neighbour has not really
> used any of the other versions of Word much and found 2007 very difficult
> to use. To call it intuitive is therefore wrong.
>
> Although by the end of the session, I was starting to get to grips with it
> a bit better, I was not impressed at all. I shall be sticking with 2003
> for as long as possible.
>
> For instance, to spend such a long time to find the print preview and
> giving up is not a good sign.
>
> Martin
>
>
> "Bob Buckland ?" <75214.226(At Beautiful Downtown)compuserve.com> wrote
> in message news:edXnbI2yIHA.4808@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi Terry,
>>
>> To an extent I agree, for support folks and corporate types who locked
>> down everything anyway, for many users the Ribbon is 'more
>> predictable' and they probably don't see that anything has been lost. In
>> too many companies the 'show menus after a short delay')
>> is what folks live with after each log in when they're in prior versions.
>> That was pretty much taken away.
>>
>> As to customizing the ribbon, it's true that there there isn't the drag
>> and drop UI built in, but customizing the ribbon via the
>> RibbonX tools and 'language' to rearrange everything is probably not any
>> higher degree of difficulty than it would be to write a
>> macro in VBA (in fact it's easier for me to follow the outline structure
>> of the RibbonX <g>), but surprisingly very few folks seem
>> to have jumped into that. There is even at least one MS tool, although
>> it's not a WYSIWYG one
>>
>> What is 'fun' is to start Word in Safe Mode (hold ctrl key when starting
>> for those reading who may not be familiar with it) and
>> seeing the 'regular' ribbon if you have customized positions <g>. Then
>> you can really get confused.
>>
>> Over time, I've noted that there is a definite pause now when I start a
>> prior version and go looking for things as the 'muscle
>> memory' now 'fights' to want to go to the Word 2007 places as first
>> choice when using the mouse <g>.
>>
>> ============
>> >>"Terry Farrell" <terryfarrell RemoveThis @msn.com> wrote in message
>> news:68688B11-5D77-4215-96AD-B8C7B6768234@microsoft.com...
>> 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. >>
>> --
>>
>> Bob Buckland ?
>> MS Office System Products MVP
>>
>> *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
>>
>>
>
>

I agree about views. It makes no sense not to have Print Preview on the View
tab.

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

"Terry Farrell" <terryfarrell RemoveThis @msn.com> wrote in message
news:%23sVEiEYzIHA.548@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Martin
>
> Two things to help your neighbour...
>
> There is the Quick Access Toolbar (the QAT). This lets you add tools that
> are displayed on the Ribbons. The Print Preview button is one of those
> that is a must to add.
>
> This brings up the second point. That Pizza button in the top left corner
> of the Word screen is actually the Office button and performs many of the
> functions of the old File menu and opens using Alt+F. Quite a few
> upgraders take a while to realise that it isn't just a decoration
> (embarrassingly, that included me). Clicking on the Print button in the
> Office menu reveals the Print Preview command.
>
> But this brings us back to what is intuitive about Word 2007's ribbons? In
> my opinion, not much. Intuitive would suggest that the Print Preview
> command should be part of the Document Views group on the View ribbon -
> equally if not more logically that under the Office button, Print command.
>
> My QAT is quite large which suggest to me that the intuitive part of the
> ribbons is missing.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> "Martin C" <martinC RemoveThis @invalid.com> wrote in message
> news:4852766c$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>> Being a relative power user of Word myself, I am like a lot of others
>> that find 2007 quite difficult to use as I have trouble finding anything
>> in it. Only last night, I was asked by a neighbour to help her out with
>> some issues she was having doing relatively simple things with Word 2007.
>> Although I managed to help her out, it was a struggle.
>>
>> Admittedly, I have hardly used 2007 at all, so this could be why I had
>> trouble finding things. The point here is that my neighbour has not
>> really used any of the other versions of Word much and found 2007 very
>> difficult to use. To call it intuitive is therefore wrong.
>>
>> Although by the end of the session, I was starting to get to grips with
>> it a bit better, I was not impressed at all. I shall be sticking with
>> 2003 for as long as possible.
>>
>> For instance, to spend such a long time to find the print preview and
>> giving up is not a good sign.
>>
>> Martin
>>
>>
>> "Bob Buckland ?" <75214.226(At Beautiful Downtown)compuserve.com>
>> wrote in message news:edXnbI2yIHA.4808@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi Terry,
>>>
>>> To an extent I agree, for support folks and corporate types who locked
>>> down everything anyway, for many users the Ribbon is 'more
>>> predictable' and they probably don't see that anything has been lost.
>>> In too many companies the 'show menus after a short delay')
>>> is what folks live with after each log in when they're in prior
>>> versions. That was pretty much taken away.
>>>
>>> As to customizing the ribbon, it's true that there there isn't the drag
>>> and drop UI built in, but customizing the ribbon via the
>>> RibbonX tools and 'language' to rearrange everything is probably not any
>>> higher degree of difficulty than it would be to write a
>>> macro in VBA (in fact it's easier for me to follow the outline structure
>>> of the RibbonX <g>), but surprisingly very few folks seem
>>> to have jumped into that. There is even at least one MS tool, although
>>> it's not a WYSIWYG one
>>>
>>> What is 'fun' is to start Word in Safe Mode (hold ctrl key when starting
>>> for those reading who may not be familiar with it) and
>>> seeing the 'regular' ribbon if you have customized positions <g>. Then
>>> you can really get confused.
>>>
>>> Over time, I've noted that there is a definite pause now when I start a
>>> prior version and go looking for things as the 'muscle
>>> memory' now 'fights' to want to go to the Word 2007 places as first
>>> choice when using the mouse <g>.
>>>
>>> ============
>>> >>"Terry Farrell" <terryfarrell RemoveThis @msn.com> wrote in message
>>> news:68688B11-5D77-4215-96AD-B8C7B6768234@microsoft.com...
>>> 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. >>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Bob Buckland ?
>>> MS Office System Products MVP
>>>
>>> *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>