> You don't say *which* version, so I must suspect it isn't Office 2007,
> because if it was, you'd see right on the Home tab to the left in big
> size Paste, Cut, Copy, etc. All right out in the open, not hidden away
> behind menus. I can't imagine what would be easier for novices.
>
> Of course, it's _your_ duty to keep telling him the shortcuts for
> these things. Shortcuts that haven't changed in 20 years. ctrl-x,
> ctrl-v, ctrl-s.
I find Tom's claim that the buttons aren't arranged in any kind of logical
order to be lacking of any merit. Looking at the ribbon in Word I see:
Home : Insert : Page layout : References : Mailings : Review ("Home" should
be labeled as "Format", but you see that first by default)
With the exception of "Home," all are clearly defined, functional headings,
not generalized menus such as "tools" and "edit." My complaint about
earlier versions Office was that the toolbars were superfluous; everything
could be accomplished by the menus and not every menu command had a
corresponding button in the default settings (yes, I know you can customize
that). The rather small toolbar buttons, with their 16-bit icons, were just
faster for some functions, but you still had to go to the menu for many
other commands.
FWIW, I hated the dynamic menus in Office XP and 2003 that would only show
you some of the commands and required a second click to see all of the menu
commands for that heading. Just show me the damn commands! (Yes, I always
turned that off.)
The ribbon did away with this by combining both the menu and the toolbars
and replaced it with larger buttons and better visual cues. I think that
the quick bar should be populated out-of-the-box with all of the common
commands: print, open, close, redo, undo, etc., but you can very easily add
those buttons. The change in Word showing you style changes on the fly is a
very good change, as is the "ghost" toolbar that comes up in the body next
to highlighted text for formatting changes when you highlight text. You can
also change the ribbon to be minimized and sorta regain menu-like
functionality.
Yes, you do need to get used to the new design, yes, it can be frustrating
and I still find myself hunting, but anyone that uses it regularly for long
periods of the day will adjust and Microsoft will be incorporating the
ribbon design into most of their products (their money is where their mouth
is). There are major design flaws, such as in Excel where you cannot
prevent the updating of linked cells, no matter what you do, and the "Trust
Center," which is just bizarre. I also think that the page layout ribbon is
inferior to the older menu command dialog. But, the visual content design
elements that have been added, and the presentation of them in the ribbon,
are very nice, IMO, and can be used to great effect by a skilled user (and
used to a nauseating effect by a n00b).
Change is good when there is a purpose to the change. There is a defined
and worthy purpose here, but as everything else in the world, not everyone
will like it.
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