Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"

No, that wouldn't be my ideal because my personal set up is one that I
evolved according to my needs and preferences. I don't think my preferences
would apply to other people. That's what Word is (or was) supposed to be
about--customizability. That's why we call our computers _personal_
computers.

However, as Word comes out of the box, there are infinite annoying things
about it that can only be solved by a person who (1) has a high Annoyance
Quotient (AQ), and (2) has a strong interest in customization and desire to
learn some VBA programming. Everyone else, i.e. 99.5 percent of the
population, is basically going to be stuck in the clunky, ugly realm of
Word's default settings. But that Word provides (or used to provide) that
awesome customization capacity to those who want it is wonderful.

(Remember, Beth, what we had to do to get the horizontal and vertical scroll
bars _never_ to appear on their own. That is a good example of Word's
built-in annoyance factor.)

Larry



"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I'm glad you're laughing. :-)

I honestly wasn't joking about thinking of you. I know your ideal program
would be one that once the installation is complete to walk you through
your
screen setup. Such as, provide an empty toolbar and a set of commands to
pick from, walk through remapping the keyboard, and in the end, display a
view similar to Full Screen view along with your single toolbar, all right
out of the box.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
LOL.

I'm laughing, but I'm miserable. :-)

... And still in a state of amazement and fury at what MS has done.



"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of operation
was
for the Greater Good.

I doubt a lot of it would benefit you, specifically, I think I have a fairly
good idea of how you use Word, but perhaps it will be a demonstration of how
there's more to the change than just the UI.

To be perfectly honest, I personally don't love the Ribbon and wish the
added functionality would have been integrated with the old UI, but I can
also see the benefits. It wasn't until I started digging deeper into the
changes and learning about the new functionality that I finally accepted the
Ribbon and found it's not as bad as I thought it would be initially.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Beth,

I'll try this out and follow your steps when I get back again to the
computer with Word 2007.

Larry

I don't find that to be true at all. I coach a firm of 55 employees
in 4 offices, most of whom were with the company when it switched from
WP to Word a few weeks before I arrived, so their learning curve was
unpleasant. Naturally with that mindset they'd been adapting slowly.
The two most critical things that appealed to them and uplifted their
collective viewpoint were macros and keyboard shortcuts.

Once they were shown these things, they adored them, and were unnerved
(often greatly) when a new or foreign PC didn't have them. Everyone
seems to appreciate keyboard shortcuts and the ability to remap them.
(Most never use the Bold or Italic buttons anymore. It's just easier
not to move your hand from the keyboard.) I placed a menu-building
add-in on each system to simplify over 70 procedures, often complex
ones that no average user would bother to do manually. It runs each
of these macros in 2 or 3 clicks or keystrokes, and the staff is now
in love with it. Word 2007 will slow or stifle this.

I think 5 concepts now being widely offered as fact are simply wrong
at base: (1) the average user is too dumb & lazy to want to improve
efficiency or reduce fatigue; (2) power users are close-minded
curmudgeons who are resistant to any change on general principle; (3)
users as a whole are such utter sheep that everyone will eventually
submit to Microsoft's peverse rug-yank; (4) the ribbon is more
inherently more efficient than the menus; and (5) clicks or keystrokes
that invoke commands are a significant part of the document-creating
or -editing experience. (They're not; most average users' time spent
at the computer is used for typing or scrolling, not finding specific
commands on menus or buttons. That much should be obvious.)

Word 2007 may look cute to newbies or amusing for the idle or self-
employed, but anyone who works in a standard office setting facing
normal concerns about deadlines and overhead will be hopelessly
injured if they upgrade.

I'm with Larry. I think 2007 is an abomination that invites revolt.
Yes, I'm a power user. Folks here seem almost willing to imply that's
a bad thing.

Mark

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
But can you accept that the majority of users do NOT use Word the way you
do? The vast majority of them would never think of going to the trouble to
customize Word this way even if they were told how, and most have no desire
to use Word this way. I find that most users are not interested in keyboard
shortcuts at all.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Larry" wrote in message
...


Also, if memory serves correctly, years ago Beth helped me with macros to
prevent the vertical and horizonal scroll bars from ever appearing unless
I
wanted them (and helped me with a lot of other things as well). It was a
bit of a trick. Word just wanted those ugly scroll bars to keep popping
up.
Only serious customization could get around that. But once we had it, it
was never an issue again. I have simple keystrokes to toggle the
scrollbars
when I want them, not when Microsoft wants them. My aim in that case and
generally has been to keep all unnecessary clutter out of the Word window.
So I got rid of all toolbar buttons that I don't use, and replaced the
Standard and Formatting toolbars with one simplified toolbar. I never
display the Ruler except when I need it. Also, the blue background screen
is "cooler," easier on the eyes. So the whole look is simple and pleasing
to the eye. To me, the way Word looks when it opens in its default state
is
an incredible eyesore.

The other thing for me is to have an integrated environment, where I do
things with the minimum of keystrokes or mouseclicks. For example, I
developed a single key command (Num1) to toggle the Blue background off
and
on. I have a single key command (Num2) which not only toggles the
capitalization of a word, but if there's a selection going up to the start
of a word, it cuts the selection and toggles the capitalization of the
first
letter of the word immediately following the selection. I have three
custom
menus with many macros I use constantly, every one of those macros takes
just two keystrokes, Alt+Letter, Letter. I'm still not sure if it's
posible
to replicate something like that in 2007.

Things that take two steps in the older versions (even without my
customizations), take three or more steps in 2007, things that take one
step
in the older versions (like opening the Window menu via keystroke) take
two
steps in 2007. This is totally unacceptable. The whole point is that
things that you do often be done with the minimum of keystrokes.

So my approach is to make Word's look as simple as possible, and Word's
operation as simple as possible.

Word 2007 is not only the opposite of that, it basically makes it
impossible
to customize around it. It imposes so much more on you (that incredibly
complicated, hyperactive Ribbon) and makes it impossible to escape it.




"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of operation
was
for the Greater Good.


"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Styles were merely an example that came to mind at the time.

You know, Larry, just based on previous discussions I've had with you
on
topics of an even more simiplic nature I know there nothing I can say
to
you
that will change your mind...

I don't think what you're saying contradicts what I've said. How many of
your users would have customized the UI *on their own*? Yes, users, when
properly trained, will use macros and shortcuts when they are provided, but
the average user does not create these macros and shortcuts. That's not to
say that they wouldn't if they realized they could; most of them just never
realize this. Which is why user customization is going to be one of my top
three points in the Word classes I start teaching this week. I hate to think
that the skills users will learn in these classes will be washed down the
drain if they get Word 2007, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I don't find that to be true at all. I coach a firm of 55 employees
in 4 offices, most of whom were with the company when it switched from
WP to Word a few weeks before I arrived, so their learning curve was
unpleasant. Naturally with that mindset they'd been adapting slowly.
The two most critical things that appealed to them and uplifted their
collective viewpoint were macros and keyboard shortcuts.

Once they were shown these things, they adored them, and were unnerved
(often greatly) when a new or foreign PC didn't have them. Everyone
seems to appreciate keyboard shortcuts and the ability to remap them.
(Most never use the Bold or Italic buttons anymore. It's just easier
not to move your hand from the keyboard.) I placed a menu-building
add-in on each system to simplify over 70 procedures, often complex
ones that no average user would bother to do manually. It runs each
of these macros in 2 or 3 clicks or keystrokes, and the staff is now
in love with it. Word 2007 will slow or stifle this.

I think 5 concepts now being widely offered as fact are simply wrong
at base: (1) the average user is too dumb & lazy to want to improve
efficiency or reduce fatigue; (2) power users are close-minded
curmudgeons who are resistant to any change on general principle; (3)
users as a whole are such utter sheep that everyone will eventually
submit to Microsoft's peverse rug-yank; (4) the ribbon is more
inherently more efficient than the menus; and (5) clicks or keystrokes
that invoke commands are a significant part of the document-creating
or -editing experience. (They're not; most average users' time spent
at the computer is used for typing or scrolling, not finding specific
commands on menus or buttons. That much should be obvious.)

Word 2007 may look cute to newbies or amusing for the idle or self-
employed, but anyone who works in a standard office setting facing
normal concerns about deadlines and overhead will be hopelessly
injured if they upgrade.

I'm with Larry. I think 2007 is an abomination that invites revolt.
Yes, I'm a power user. Folks here seem almost willing to imply that's
a bad thing.

Mark

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
But can you accept that the majority of users do NOT use Word the way
you
do? The vast majority of them would never think of going to the trouble
to
customize Word this way even if they were told how, and most have no
desire
to use Word this way. I find that most users are not interested in
keyboard
shortcuts at all.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Larry" wrote in message
...


Also, if memory serves correctly, years ago Beth helped me with macros
to
prevent the vertical and horizonal scroll bars from ever appearing
unless
I
wanted them (and helped me with a lot of other things as well). It
was a
bit of a trick. Word just wanted those ugly scroll bars to keep
popping
up.
Only serious customization could get around that. But once we had it,
it
was never an issue again. I have simple keystrokes to toggle the
scrollbars
when I want them, not when Microsoft wants them. My aim in that case
and
generally has been to keep all unnecessary clutter out of the Word
window.
So I got rid of all toolbar buttons that I don't use, and replaced the
Standard and Formatting toolbars with one simplified toolbar. I never
display the Ruler except when I need it. Also, the blue background
screen
is "cooler," easier on the eyes. So the whole look is simple and
pleasing
to the eye. To me, the way Word looks when it opens in its default
state
is
an incredible eyesore.

The other thing for me is to have an integrated environment, where I
do
things with the minimum of keystrokes or mouseclicks. For example, I
developed a single key command (Num1) to toggle the Blue background
off
and
on. I have a single key command (Num2) which not only toggles the
capitalization of a word, but if there's a selection going up to the
start
of a word, it cuts the selection and toggles the capitalization of the
first
letter of the word immediately following the selection. I have three
custom
menus with many macros I use constantly, every one of those macros
takes
just two keystrokes, Alt+Letter, Letter. I'm still not sure if it's
posible
to replicate something like that in 2007.

Things that take two steps in the older versions (even without my
customizations), take three or more steps in 2007, things that take
one
step
in the older versions (like opening the Window menu via keystroke)
take
two
steps in 2007. This is totally unacceptable. The whole point is
that
things that you do often be done with the minimum of keystrokes.

So my approach is to make Word's look as simple as possible, and
Word's
operation as simple as possible.

Word 2007 is not only the opposite of that, it basically makes it
impossible
to customize around it. It imposes so much more on you (that
incredibly
complicated, hyperactive Ribbon) and makes it impossible to escape it.




"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the
first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this
he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and
are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade
me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of
operation
was
for the Greater Good.


"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Styles were merely an example that came to mind at the time.

You know, Larry, just based on previous discussions I've had with
you
on
topics of an even more simiplic nature I know there nothing I can
say
to
you
that will change your mind...

Hey, I tried. :-)

I guess I'm one who doesn't have too many problems with the defaults.
Although I try to use Word "as-is" so I can have the same experiences as
most users. That way when the opportunity for feedback to Microsoft arises
I'm prepared with my list. :-)

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"Larry" wrote in message
...

No, that wouldn't be my ideal because my personal set up is one that I
evolved according to my needs and preferences. I don't think my
preferences
would apply to other people. That's what Word is (or was) supposed to be
about--customizability. That's why we call our computers _personal_
computers.

However, as Word comes out of the box, there are infinite annoying things
about it that can only be solved by a person who (1) has a high Annoyance
Quotient (AQ), and (2) has a strong interest in customization and desire
to
learn some VBA programming. Everyone else, i.e. 99.5 percent of the
population, is basically going to be stuck in the clunky, ugly realm of
Word's default settings. But that Word provides (or used to provide) that
awesome customization capacity to those who want it is wonderful.

(Remember, Beth, what we had to do to get the horizontal and vertical
scroll
bars _never_ to appear on their own. That is a good example of Word's
built-in annoyance factor.)

Larry



"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I'm glad you're laughing. :-)

I honestly wasn't joking about thinking of you. I know your ideal program
would be one that once the installation is complete to walk you through
your
screen setup. Such as, provide an empty toolbar and a set of commands to
pick from, walk through remapping the keyboard, and in the end, display a
view similar to Full Screen view along with your single toolbar, all
right
out of the box.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
LOL.

I'm laughing, but I'm miserable. :-)

... And still in a state of amazement and fury at what MS has done.



"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of
operation
was
for the Greater Good.

You can still customize the environment (even the Ribbon) and assign
keyboard shortcuts, just as you did before. Your menu add-in will still
function in Word 2007 along with the macros and keyboard shortcuts. When an
add-in, document, or template, that contains customized toolbars and menus
from the previous version another tab will be added, called Add-ins.

Unfortunately, a lot of what you've read here is first impression and
speculation. :-(

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

wrote in message
oups.com...
I don't find that to be true at all. I coach a firm of 55 employees
in 4 offices, most of whom were with the company when it switched from
WP to Word a few weeks before I arrived, so their learning curve was
unpleasant. Naturally with that mindset they'd been adapting slowly.
The two most critical things that appealed to them and uplifted their
collective viewpoint were macros and keyboard shortcuts.

Once they were shown these things, they adored them, and were unnerved
(often greatly) when a new or foreign PC didn't have them. Everyone
seems to appreciate keyboard shortcuts and the ability to remap them.
(Most never use the Bold or Italic buttons anymore. It's just easier
not to move your hand from the keyboard.) I placed a menu-building
add-in on each system to simplify over 70 procedures, often complex
ones that no average user would bother to do manually. It runs each
of these macros in 2 or 3 clicks or keystrokes, and the staff is now
in love with it. Word 2007 will slow or stifle this.

I think 5 concepts now being widely offered as fact are simply wrong
at base: (1) the average user is too dumb & lazy to want to improve
efficiency or reduce fatigue; (2) power users are close-minded
curmudgeons who are resistant to any change on general principle; (3)
users as a whole are such utter sheep that everyone will eventually
submit to Microsoft's peverse rug-yank; (4) the ribbon is more
inherently more efficient than the menus; and (5) clicks or keystrokes
that invoke commands are a significant part of the document-creating
or -editing experience. (They're not; most average users' time spent
at the computer is used for typing or scrolling, not finding specific
commands on menus or buttons. That much should be obvious.)

Word 2007 may look cute to newbies or amusing for the idle or self-
employed, but anyone who works in a standard office setting facing
normal concerns about deadlines and overhead will be hopelessly
injured if they upgrade.

I'm with Larry. I think 2007 is an abomination that invites revolt.
Yes, I'm a power user. Folks here seem almost willing to imply that's
a bad thing.

Mark

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
But can you accept that the majority of users do NOT use Word the way you
do? The vast majority of them would never think of going to the trouble
to
customize Word this way even if they were told how, and most have no
desire
to use Word this way. I find that most users are not interested in
keyboard
shortcuts at all.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Larry" wrote in message
...


Also, if memory serves correctly, years ago Beth helped me with macros
to
prevent the vertical and horizonal scroll bars from ever appearing
unless
I
wanted them (and helped me with a lot of other things as well). It was
a
bit of a trick. Word just wanted those ugly scroll bars to keep
popping
up.
Only serious customization could get around that. But once we had it,
it
was never an issue again. I have simple keystrokes to toggle the
scrollbars
when I want them, not when Microsoft wants them. My aim in that case
and
generally has been to keep all unnecessary clutter out of the Word
window.
So I got rid of all toolbar buttons that I don't use, and replaced the
Standard and Formatting toolbars with one simplified toolbar. I never
display the Ruler except when I need it. Also, the blue background
screen
is "cooler," easier on the eyes. So the whole look is simple and
pleasing
to the eye. To me, the way Word looks when it opens in its default
state
is
an incredible eyesore.

The other thing for me is to have an integrated environment, where I do
things with the minimum of keystrokes or mouseclicks. For example, I
developed a single key command (Num1) to toggle the Blue background off
and
on. I have a single key command (Num2) which not only toggles the
capitalization of a word, but if there's a selection going up to the
start
of a word, it cuts the selection and toggles the capitalization of the
first
letter of the word immediately following the selection. I have three
custom
menus with many macros I use constantly, every one of those macros
takes
just two keystrokes, Alt+Letter, Letter. I'm still not sure if it's
posible
to replicate something like that in 2007.

Things that take two steps in the older versions (even without my
customizations), take three or more steps in 2007, things that take one
step
in the older versions (like opening the Window menu via keystroke) take
two
steps in 2007. This is totally unacceptable. The whole point is that
things that you do often be done with the minimum of keystrokes.

So my approach is to make Word's look as simple as possible, and
Word's
operation as simple as possible.

Word 2007 is not only the opposite of that, it basically makes it
impossible
to customize around it. It imposes so much more on you (that
incredibly
complicated, hyperactive Ribbon) and makes it impossible to escape it.




"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the
first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this
he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of
operation
was
for the Greater Good.


"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Styles were merely an example that came to mind at the time.

You know, Larry, just based on previous discussions I've had with
you
on
topics of an even more simiplic nature I know there nothing I can
say
to
you
that will change your mind...

Make sure you turn on CEIP before you show the group how to customize the
toolbars. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I don't think what you're saying contradicts what I've said. How many of
your users would have customized the UI *on their own*? Yes, users, when
properly trained, will use macros and shortcuts when they are provided,
but
the average user does not create these macros and shortcuts. That's not to
say that they wouldn't if they realized they could; most of them just
never
realize this. Which is why user customization is going to be one of my top
three points in the Word classes I start teaching this week. I hate to
think
that the skills users will learn in these classes will be washed down the
drain if they get Word 2007, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to
it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I don't find that to be true at all. I coach a firm of 55 employees
in 4 offices, most of whom were with the company when it switched from
WP to Word a few weeks before I arrived, so their learning curve was
unpleasant. Naturally with that mindset they'd been adapting slowly.
The two most critical things that appealed to them and uplifted their
collective viewpoint were macros and keyboard shortcuts.

Once they were shown these things, they adored them, and were unnerved
(often greatly) when a new or foreign PC didn't have them. Everyone
seems to appreciate keyboard shortcuts and the ability to remap them.
(Most never use the Bold or Italic buttons anymore. It's just easier
not to move your hand from the keyboard.) I placed a menu-building
add-in on each system to simplify over 70 procedures, often complex
ones that no average user would bother to do manually. It runs each
of these macros in 2 or 3 clicks or keystrokes, and the staff is now
in love with it. Word 2007 will slow or stifle this.

I think 5 concepts now being widely offered as fact are simply wrong
at base: (1) the average user is too dumb & lazy to want to improve
efficiency or reduce fatigue; (2) power users are close-minded
curmudgeons who are resistant to any change on general principle; (3)
users as a whole are such utter sheep that everyone will eventually
submit to Microsoft's peverse rug-yank; (4) the ribbon is more
inherently more efficient than the menus; and (5) clicks or keystrokes
that invoke commands are a significant part of the document-creating
or -editing experience. (They're not; most average users' time spent
at the computer is used for typing or scrolling, not finding specific
commands on menus or buttons. That much should be obvious.)

Word 2007 may look cute to newbies or amusing for the idle or self-
employed, but anyone who works in a standard office setting facing
normal concerns about deadlines and overhead will be hopelessly
injured if they upgrade.

I'm with Larry. I think 2007 is an abomination that invites revolt.
Yes, I'm a power user. Folks here seem almost willing to imply that's
a bad thing.

Mark

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
But can you accept that the majority of users do NOT use Word the way
you
do? The vast majority of them would never think of going to the trouble
to
customize Word this way even if they were told how, and most have no
desire
to use Word this way. I find that most users are not interested in
keyboard
shortcuts at all.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Larry" wrote in message
...


Also, if memory serves correctly, years ago Beth helped me with
macros
to
prevent the vertical and horizonal scroll bars from ever appearing
unless
I
wanted them (and helped me with a lot of other things as well). It
was a
bit of a trick. Word just wanted those ugly scroll bars to keep
popping
up.
Only serious customization could get around that. But once we had
it,
it
was never an issue again. I have simple keystrokes to toggle the
scrollbars
when I want them, not when Microsoft wants them. My aim in that case
and
generally has been to keep all unnecessary clutter out of the Word
window.
So I got rid of all toolbar buttons that I don't use, and replaced
the
Standard and Formatting toolbars with one simplified toolbar. I
never
display the Ruler except when I need it. Also, the blue background
screen
is "cooler," easier on the eyes. So the whole look is simple and
pleasing
to the eye. To me, the way Word looks when it opens in its default
state
is
an incredible eyesore.

The other thing for me is to have an integrated environment, where I
do
things with the minimum of keystrokes or mouseclicks. For example, I
developed a single key command (Num1) to toggle the Blue background
off
and
on. I have a single key command (Num2) which not only toggles the
capitalization of a word, but if there's a selection going up to the
start
of a word, it cuts the selection and toggles the capitalization of
the
first
letter of the word immediately following the selection. I have three
custom
menus with many macros I use constantly, every one of those macros
takes
just two keystrokes, Alt+Letter, Letter. I'm still not sure if it's
posible
to replicate something like that in 2007.

Things that take two steps in the older versions (even without my
customizations), take three or more steps in 2007, things that take
one
step
in the older versions (like opening the Window menu via keystroke)
take
two
steps in 2007. This is totally unacceptable. The whole point is
that
things that you do often be done with the minimum of keystrokes.

So my approach is to make Word's look as simple as possible, and
Word's
operation as simple as possible.

Word 2007 is not only the opposite of that, it basically makes it
impossible
to customize around it. It imposes so much more on you (that
incredibly
complicated, hyperactive Ribbon) and makes it impossible to escape
it.




"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the
first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this
he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and
are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade
me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of
operation
was
for the Greater Good.


"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Styles were merely an example that came to mind at the time.

You know, Larry, just based on previous discussions I've had
with
you
on
topics of an even more simiplic nature I know there nothing I
can
say
to
you
that will change your mind...

Mon, 9 Apr 2007 11:41:09 -0500 from Suzanne S. Barnhill
:
No, Word has always provided a variety of ways to accomplish any given task,
to accommodate user preference insofar as possible, while still leaning to
making the UI most accommodating for the majority of users. I'll also add
that many users *do* adopt at least some keyboard shortcuts when they are
introduced to them, but most casual Word users (and that includes a *lot* of
users, since "everybody" has Word) don't have the same needs as power users.

I remember support for this in the MS blog that Joann pointed me to a
few weeks ago. It said that even people who used Ctrl-V a lot also
clicked the Paste icon a lot. Since then I've paid attention, and
even though I'm a keyboard guy I find myself using that Paste icon.
:-)

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Mark's points are so important, and are worth re-reading and thinking about.
I especially like Number 5: It's as though the main purpose of Word is
fancy functions to manage fancy documents, rather than the basic task of
typing and editing text. MS, in its desire for innovation for the sake of
innovation, has lost sight of what most people spend their time doing with
Word, which is typing, editing, and formatting text.

Based on the unhappiness expressed by several respected MVPs, something I've
never seen before in the eight years I've been frequenting the Word
newsgroups, I think there is a basis for some kind of collective statement
or petition to Microsoft from the newsgroups, led by the MVPs, pointing out
the serious problems with Word 2007 and asking for a major retooling,
including restoring basic features that have been taken away like the menus
and toolbars. Terry said his own requests and suggestions had been
rebuffed. But what if a bunch of MVPs and other interested Word users spoke
together? We might not win, but Microsoft could not completely ignore us
either. They would have to face the fact that intelligent people deeply
interested in Word see serious problems here.

Word experts of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your
Microsoft Office Button.

Larry


wrote in message
oups.com...
I don't find that to be true at all. I coach a firm of 55 employees
in 4 offices, most of whom were with the company when it switched from
WP to Word a few weeks before I arrived, so their learning curve was
unpleasant. Naturally with that mindset they'd been adapting slowly.
The two most critical things that appealed to them and uplifted their
collective viewpoint were macros and keyboard shortcuts.

Once they were shown these things, they adored them, and were unnerved
(often greatly) when a new or foreign PC didn't have them. Everyone
seems to appreciate keyboard shortcuts and the ability to remap them.
(Most never use the Bold or Italic buttons anymore. It's just easier
not to move your hand from the keyboard.) I placed a menu-building
add-in on each system to simplify over 70 procedures, often complex
ones that no average user would bother to do manually. It runs each
of these macros in 2 or 3 clicks or keystrokes, and the staff is now
in love with it. Word 2007 will slow or stifle this.

I think 5 concepts now being widely offered as fact are simply wrong
at base: (1) the average user is too dumb & lazy to want to improve
efficiency or reduce fatigue; (2) power users are close-minded
curmudgeons who are resistant to any change on general principle; (3)
users as a whole are such utter sheep that everyone will eventually
submit to Microsoft's peverse rug-yank; (4) the ribbon is more
inherently more efficient than the menus; and (5) clicks or keystrokes
that invoke commands are a significant part of the document-creating
or -editing experience. (They're not; most average users' time spent
at the computer is used for typing or scrolling, not finding specific
commands on menus or buttons. That much should be obvious.)

Word 2007 may look cute to newbies or amusing for the idle or self-
employed, but anyone who works in a standard office setting facing
normal concerns about deadlines and overhead will be hopelessly
injured if they upgrade.

I'm with Larry. I think 2007 is an abomination that invites revolt.
Yes, I'm a power user. Folks here seem almost willing to imply that's
a bad thing.

Mark

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
But can you accept that the majority of users do NOT use Word the way
you
do? The vast majority of them would never think of going to the trouble
to
customize Word this way even if they were told how, and most have no
desire
to use Word this way. I find that most users are not interested in
keyboard
shortcuts at all.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Larry" wrote in message
...


Also, if memory serves correctly, years ago Beth helped me with macros
to
prevent the vertical and horizonal scroll bars from ever appearing
unless
I
wanted them (and helped me with a lot of other things as well). It
was a
bit of a trick. Word just wanted those ugly scroll bars to keep
popping
up.
Only serious customization could get around that. But once we had it,
it
was never an issue again. I have simple keystrokes to toggle the
scrollbars
when I want them, not when Microsoft wants them. My aim in that case
and
generally has been to keep all unnecessary clutter out of the Word
window.
So I got rid of all toolbar buttons that I don't use, and replaced the
Standard and Formatting toolbars with one simplified toolbar. I never
display the Ruler except when I need it. Also, the blue background
screen
is "cooler," easier on the eyes. So the whole look is simple and
pleasing
to the eye. To me, the way Word looks when it opens in its default
state
is
an incredible eyesore.

The other thing for me is to have an integrated environment, where I
do
things with the minimum of keystrokes or mouseclicks. For example, I
developed a single key command (Num1) to toggle the Blue background
off
and
on. I have a single key command (Num2) which not only toggles the
capitalization of a word, but if there's a selection going up to the
start
of a word, it cuts the selection and toggles the capitalization of the
first
letter of the word immediately following the selection. I have three
custom
menus with many macros I use constantly, every one of those macros
takes
just two keystrokes, Alt+Letter, Letter. I'm still not sure if it's
posible
to replicate something like that in 2007.

Things that take two steps in the older versions (even without my
customizations), take three or more steps in 2007, things that take
one
step
in the older versions (like opening the Window menu via keystroke)
take
two
steps in 2007. This is totally unacceptable. The whole point is
that
things that you do often be done with the minimum of keystrokes.

So my approach is to make Word's look as simple as possible, and
Word's
operation as simple as possible.

Word 2007 is not only the opposite of that, it basically makes it
impossible
to customize around it. It imposes so much more on you (that
incredibly
complicated, hyperactive Ribbon) and makes it impossible to escape it.




"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
I think it's impossible to persuade you in general, Larry. ;-)

If you want the truth, when I saw the new UI you were one of the
first
people that came to mind. I thought, oh my, when Larry sees this
he'll
have
a heart attack. I'm thankful to see you've taken a look at it and
are
still
around. grin

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Ok, Beth, I understand that you feel it's impossible to persuade
me
that
trashing and replacing Word's total interface and method of
operation
was
for the Greater Good.


"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Styles were merely an example that came to mind at the time.

You know, Larry, just based on previous discussions I've had with
you
on
topics of an even more simiplic nature I know there nothing I can
say
to
you
that will change your mind...

I've removed the Cut, Copy, and Paste buttons from my toolbar in order to
accommodate others, and I have never missed them. I do use a lot of the
formatting buttons (Italic, Bold, Underline, Double Underline, Small Caps,
All Caps) when I'm editing, but I use only the keyboard shortcut for
pasting.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
Mon, 9 Apr 2007 11:41:09 -0500 from Suzanne S. Barnhill
:
No, Word has always provided a variety of ways to accomplish any given
task,
to accommodate user preference insofar as possible, while still leaning
to
making the UI most accommodating for the majority of users. I'll also
add
that many users *do* adopt at least some keyboard shortcuts when they
are
introduced to them, but most casual Word users (and that includes a
*lot* of
users, since "everybody" has Word) don't have the same needs as power
users.

I remember support for this in the MS blog that Joann pointed me to a
few weeks ago. It said that even people who used Ctrl-V a lot also
clicked the Paste icon a lot. Since then I've paid attention, and
even though I'm a keyboard guy I find myself using that Paste icon.
:-)

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/