Today on TechRepublic's Microsoft Office blog, Susan Harkins mentions an add-in for several Office 2007 products that helps you find menu commands.
Say what?
You need an additional product for that?
Sorry, but there's something wrong when you have to use an add-in to search for commands in one of the most popular programs of all time. It reminds me of how there are certain WordPress features missing from the standard install, yet desperately needed (like built-in caching). I feel bad for Office 2007 power users who are disoriented by the new menus.
Isn't it sad that you have to install an add-in to use a product's core functionality?
Here's the tagline from the add-in's homepage at Office Labs: "You know there’s a button for it, but you don’t know or remember where it is."
Maybe that's because you moved it. Why does a phrase like that even apply to a piece of software? If you have to utter a sentence like that, there's something wrong with your product.
I've never seen so much time spent tweaking a user interface. How many productive hours have been lost? There are add-ins and commercial products and books and tutorial pages dedicated to rearranging elements of the UI or helping you to make it look like Excel 2003. Does anyone do this with 2003, or do you just add a few commands to an existing toolbar (if necessary)?
As for the Ribbon's effect on productivity, I leave for others to decide. But here's a great article about it.
Simon Murphy has a series of posts about the Excel Ribbon, the latest of which is Ribbon Style Princess which highlights more UI woes. I'd love to hear from anyone out there, agree or disagree.
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6 Comments:
One would have to think that, if the goal of the Ribbon was to make the features "more discoverable", that this would pretty much be an admission of failure, wouldn't you?
It seems to make some features more discoverable, at the expense of others.
I love Excel. I have been using it extensively for over 16 years, and I think that the Ribbon is a complete and unmitigated disaster. I hate it with a passion. It is IMHO one of the biggest FAILs in the history of software.
Thanks for sharing, Glenn.
I ditto Glen's perspective.