I have to say, I really like what Microsoft has done with Office 2010 so far. Better across the table.
The Outlook update is much welcome (and much needed).
It's useful feedback, so don't feel bad for writing walls of text Some things about your post:
- About the keyboard paths, I don't have Office 2007 right now, but in 2010 that exists too (you press Alt and you get all the keys for the shortcuts).
- And about the customization and toolbars, there are tools for that too: http://word.mvps.org/FAQS/Customization/CustomizeRibbon.htm
Hope it helps!
I agree that Excel might be useful for certain tasks, though in my experience I only used it for Physics experiments.
But as for Word and Powerpoint, the only other Office programs I have ever properly used (ignoring Outlook), I can see why normal users use them, but don't see the reasons for fairly frequent occurrence in non-scientific technical documents, where it competes with LaTeX.
Although I am a CompSci, I am very much the kind of person who appreciates Windows-like GUI and who doesn't like the standard "get your collection of random flags" UNIX way of controlling a machine. And still, I find LaTeX by far the easiest thing to use after some investment of time, especially as, in conjunction with templates, I need to remember roughly 3 commands in order to get superbly formatted documents while writing just what I mean.
Re: Loss of customization with the ribbon: You can customize the ribbon in Office 2010, just check the Options dialog
True true
Unless I'm missing something, it sounds like you're confusing the Quick Access clutter on the title bar with the ribbon; it's a handy workaround for a few basic things (you can 9 or ten ALT+A_Number hotkeys that way), but not what I really need. And I guess I should admit I know about and have puttered with the Developer ribbon, but the problem is that the 'customization' options I can find are simply more of the same too-helpful ribbon worldview and not a way to properly take control of a specialized doc-work context.
No, the ribbon is now customizable in addition to the quick access area.
First preview of Brad's new book.
I have 2007 and am testing 2010 on another machine, I have never been a big fan of the ribbon. I have an after market Item that give me the old memu bar it works in 2007 and 2010. I like the new outlook. it sends the mail to the different users. Each user has his or her own in box and that alone is woth the change to me to at lest have OUTLOOK 2010
That sounds encouraging in plain English. Can you float ribbons and dock them on the sides and bottom of windows in 2010.
Edit: After a much-needed-scrap-of-a-day being able to bill for time spend in Word, I might have learned how to decently describe the heart of my frustration over the radical ribbon revolution, and it might not be entirely about the ribbon after all. To me, it seems like the Word UI has basically given up on a text-centered approach to writing and editing (tragically illogical as that might sound). I understand that some chunks of text might be intended for final delivery via a PC-related rig that's far better than what I have to work with. But why the fuck did Normal view have to go away? I understand that most of the audience for the products my patrons commission are using really new rigs with nice big landscape/letterbox displays. But why eliminate Word's former ability to let production folks focus exclusively on content and structure at the raw text and outline level?
You can't right now (and I personally doubt it will be added).
I'm not a poweruser, so maybe I say a nonsense, but there seem to be several views in Word (print, reading, web, outline and draft), aren't those the ones you are referring to?
For the people having problems to learn the Office UI, Office Labs have released "Ribbon Hero", a game to learn how to use the Ribbon UI:
http://lostgarden.com/2010/01/ribbon-hero-turns-learning-office-into.html
Very interesting post for people who work on UI and usability
Nope, Normal view is gone. It was the default view for 11 versions of Word, but now the default is Print Layout. The new Draft view is almost as good as Normal was, but it's odd-feeling and I have to do so much twiddling of headers and footers these days that I hardly ever use it.
It's encouraging to see a UI designer scoff the "Don't make me think" line, and a training toy might be a good idea for many folks.
