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From: Ripsteel on 13 May 2008 22:10
You know, so many people are expressing disgust with the ribbon, but I feel
like the only problem it has is that I can't add and remove buttons. I don't
care about the menus because I used the buttons for everything. I just did a
quick count, and if you look across all the tabs in Word 2007 there are
175(ish) buttons you could click on at any time (not counting switching back
and forth from tab to tab). I have 38 buttons on my customized version of
Word 2003 and almost never use a menu. Even if I leave the Home tab open all
the time, I still need 20 buttons on the QAT to get all of my buttons where I
can see them without switching from tab to tab. By contrast, the Home tab
alone has about 43 visible buttons (without digging into them at all)
including 25 buttons that I feel like I'll almost never use. Wouldn't it be
wild if I could replace the style section with things that I do use? It would
take up less screen room as well. I've been using 2007 for a few months, and
the experts can say what they will, but I probably use about 25% more mouse
clicks than I ever did before, and it makes the whole thing feel sluggish and
sad. By contrast, I work in a state that just supplied us with MacBooks, and
as much as I'd like to take mine out into a field and smash it with a
baseball bat (a la Office Space), I found the Mac word processing software
that came with it easier to use and to get used to than the ribbon in 2007.
Does anyone know how complicated it would be for MS to make it so you can add
and remove buttons from tabs?
From: Joe on 14 May 2008 01:52


"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:

> http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh - think again.
>
> --
> Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
>
> Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
> unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
> reading.
>
> After furious head scratching, chemicals asked:
>
> | Although I am not opposed to new changes...I have lost
> | productuctivity for several weeks (so far) in my Office apps. I find
> | the new groups cumbersome, inconsistent, and unintuitive. I am
> | constantantly searching for the same functions. Supposedly the
> | ribbon is to reduce the number of mouse-clicks but I think it's just
> | driven by the Microsoft developers wanting to do something new after
> | years of the same interface. I don't think it is driven by the user
> | community....
>
From: Joe on 14 May 2008 01:56
he is another microsoft apologist for the ribbon.. and a lot of what he says
is not exactly correct and he repeats himself a lot. i hardly think he's
objective, being a microsoft employee.

"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:

> http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh - think again.
>
> --
> Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
>
> Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
> unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
> reading.
>
> After furious head scratching, chemicals asked:
>
> | Although I am not opposed to new changes...I have lost
> | productuctivity for several weeks (so far) in my Office apps. I find
> | the new groups cumbersome, inconsistent, and unintuitive. I am
> | constantantly searching for the same functions. Supposedly the
> | ribbon is to reduce the number of mouse-clicks but I think it's just
> | driven by the Microsoft developers wanting to do something new after
> | years of the same interface. I don't think it is driven by the user
> | community....
>
From: Bob I on 14 May 2008 08:08
You're wrong in so many ways it isn't even funny. I'd say that the only
thing you did get right was the part about your "hardly thinking".

Joe wrote:

> he is another microsoft apologist for the ribbon.. and a lot of what he says
> is not exactly correct and he repeats himself a lot. i hardly think he's
> objective, being a microsoft employee.
>
> "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
>
>
>>http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh - think again.
>>
>>--
>>Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
>>
>>Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
>>unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
>>reading.
>>
>>After furious head scratching, chemicals asked:
>>
>>| Although I am not opposed to new changes...I have lost
>>| productuctivity for several weeks (so far) in my Office apps. I find
>>| the new groups cumbersome, inconsistent, and unintuitive. I am
>>| constantantly searching for the same functions. Supposedly the
>>| ribbon is to reduce the number of mouse-clicks but I think it's just
>>| driven by the Microsoft developers wanting to do something new after
>>| years of the same interface. I don't think it is driven by the user
>>| community....
>>

From: Bob Buckland ?:-) on 14 May 2008 12:00
Hi Ripsteel,


If you can work with just the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) then you may want to consider minimizing the Ribbon using either Ctrl+F1 or
double clicking on a tab. To 'float' selected commands in a 'toolbar' you may want to try the trial version of
http://ToolbarToggle.com (which is one of several tools that also allow you to have the look of 'classic' menus/toolbars.

Hopefully there will be better user tools in a future version of Office to tweak the Ribbon, but you actually can
add/subtract/replace sections of the ribbon on your own with Office 2007, but at present it's another learning curve, or use a 3rd
party tool.

There aren't, that I've found, too many 'for the beginner' sites on this but you may want to try out a customization with the steps
here (you can copy and paste most of it <g>)

Word 2007: http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Customize_Ribbon.htm
or
Excel 2007: http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm
http://www.excelguru.ca/node/93

or use the User Interface (UI) tools from http://ribboncustomizer.com

Basically, the ribbon is made up of XML elements, created in an outline like structure starting with the User Interface (UI), then
subtiered:

<customUI>
<Ribbon>
<Tab>
<Group on Tab>
<Button in Group>
<Button Picture/Text>
<Action - give the button something to do>

Yes, it then takes a bit of programming/macros to 'run' the changes (see notes about cut and paste above <g>). The vocabulary of
RibbonX and XML terms can be the initial big curve to get past.

Let us know how you make out if you take the plunge to make your own
'My Ribbon' tab :)

If you have created customized Word toolbars in prior versions then you can use those in Word 2007 as well, and you can have the
Toolbars appear as a dropdown on the QAT
http://gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm

==============
<<"Ripsteel" <Ripsteel(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:62CBDA7E-164A-4571-81BC-535672665B1D(a)microsoft.com...
You know, so many people are expressing disgust with the ribbon, but I feel
like the only problem it has is that I can't add and remove buttons. I don't
care about the menus because I used the buttons for everything. I just did a
quick count, and if you look across all the tabs in Word 2007 there are
175(ish) buttons you could click on at any time (not counting switching back
and forth from tab to tab). I have 38 buttons on my customized version of
Word 2003 and almost never use a menu. Even if I leave the Home tab open all
the time, I still need 20 buttons on the QAT to get all of my buttons where I
can see them without switching from tab to tab. By contrast, the Home tab
alone has about 43 visible buttons (without digging into them at all)
including 25 buttons that I feel like I'll almost never use. Wouldn't it be
wild if I could replace the style section with things that I do use? It would
take up less screen room as well. I've been using 2007 for a few months, and
the experts can say what they will, but I probably use about 25% more mouse
clicks than I ever did before, and it makes the whole thing feel sluggish and
sad. By contrast, I work in a state that just supplied us with MacBooks, and
as much as I'd like to take mine out into a field and smash it with a
baseball bat (a la Office Space), I found the Mac word processing software
that came with it easier to use and to get used to than the ribbon in 2007.
Does anyone know how complicated it would be for MS to make it so you can add
and remove buttons from tabs? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*


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