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#1
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
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. |
#2
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
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. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "PA" wrote in message ... 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. |
#3
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
... 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? |
#4
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
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" wrote in message ... 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. |
#5
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
"Gordon" wrote:
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... 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... |
#6
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
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" wrote in message ... 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? |
#7
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
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" wrote in message ... "Gordon" wrote: "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... 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... |
#8
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
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" wrote in message ... "Gordon" wrote: "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... 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... |
#9
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
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" wrote in message ... 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* |
#10
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Word 2007 is "More intuitive??"
Hi Jean-Guy,
While the Quick Access Toolbar has only one position, it does have the ability to have multiple sections that can you can have come and go as needed. The standalone (always there) entries are stored (in Word's case) in a separate XML file, Word.QAT, but you can add QAT items to specific templates or specific documents if those help with task related actions. You can attach a template (Alt, T, I) that has a custom QAT section as well as pull in custom made (not customized built in) Toolbars from older versions into the Add-In tab. Then there is http://toggletoolbar.com which demonstrates a way to use [Task] Panes in Word 2007 as a way to 'host' groups of commands (i.e. a version of floating toolbars). MVP Greg Maxey was looking into doing an article (I think) on how to do that with Word, but I don't know how far along he's gotten with that. ================= "Jean-Guy Marcil" wrote in message ... 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... -- Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* |
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