I absolutely HATE the UI in WMP10 hiding the File, Edit, etc menus and it looks like they've decided hiding menus is the next big thing for Office too. Fuckers.
On 3/28/06, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There's been a lot of talk in UI circles ever since MS started releasing > screen shots of their new Office UI. In an apparent attempt to mitigate > confusion MS has produced a high quality video demonstration of many of the > new features (the video is a little more than 13 minutes): > > http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/asx/OfficeUIIntro.asx > > Some bullet points: > > +) The entire line of products is adopting a "results" mentality: you will > now look for the result you want (a chart, a table, formatting, etc) and > choose that (often from a predefined list of options) rather than combine > features. For example to position an image you can select from a gallary of > common styles instead of setting indivual wrap and location parameters. > > +) The toolbar has been replaced by the "Ribbon" - a richer, feature dense, > contextual tool box. The ribbon is context sensitive: selecting an image > will bring forth all of the image-related ribbon elements. > > +) Nearly everything in Office will feature "Live Preview" - as you mouse > over options (font sizes, styles, etc) they will automatically preview > themselves in your document. The idea is to eliminate the "try and undo" > cycle common to editing applications of all types. > > +) Context sensitive menus (which appear as you approach the elements and > fade as you leave it) will now be displayed for many actions. For example > selecting text will result in a context-sensitive menu with items like > "copy", "paste", "bold", etc. Essentially this seems to be a kind of > "automatic right click". > > Overall I'm very impressed so far. I've been promoting contextual design > for years and many of these features epitomize that. I'm also hopeful that > the context sensitivity along with the auto preview and gallery options will > mitigate the huge problem of needed features that you can't find. > > My concerns are simply that many of the galleries strike me as the "samples" > or "macros" that we've seen before: easy to use (if you like one of the > samples) but impossible to modify or customize. Also, a minor point, but > it's very clear that these new features (especially the auto preview) will > require a lot more CPU than we've come to expect Office needing - I don't > see that as being a problem personally but I'm sure it will have an impact > on general adoption. > > The biggest concern I have has to do with contextual interfaces in general: > how good is the system in determining your context? For example If the only > way to surface a tool is to make the system believe that's what you want how > do you start? Yes, clicking on an image bring up images tools, but how to > add an image? > > In any case, very neat stuff. > > Jim Davis > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:201985 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
