I'm glad to see that I am not the only Office 2007 user who dislikes the ribbon menus . A Network World Microsoft Subnet blog reader posted on their blog about it. Commenters on JoelOnSoftware , a very popular site with software developers, have expressed their displeasure with ribbon menus. This YouTube video explores reactions to ribbon menus. The common thread in all these posts centers around frustrations users have when looking to perform an action, which the already knew how to do in previous drop-down menu designs of Office products, but can't easily find in Office 2007's new user interface.
I'm really curious to see what will happen with the new ribbon menu design. Given time, will we come to like and appreciate ribbon menus? Will the benefits of dynamically changing styles and settings as you work with the ribbon menu prove out to be worth the hassle?
Or will we all just hunker down and learn the new Office 2007 interface like we've done with previous office upgrades. I'm guessing the later will be the case but time will tell. Worse case, we'll have we'll have a new user interface design in the next major Office upgrade. Maybe, Office 2010?
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Mitchell Ashley is CEO and Chief Strategist of Converging Network, LLC, providing product and technology strategies to emerging technology companies. A serial entrepreneur, Mitchell has created many successful products and services in the networking, security, convergence, Internet and IT industries. In addition to blogging for NetworkWorld, Mitchell regularly blogs at TheConvergingNetwork and co-hosts the widely popular Still Crazy After All These Years podcast.
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You might want to take a
You might want to take a look at http://www.toolbartoggle.com
They seem to have brought the toolbars back to Microsoft Office.
Other Ribbon Menu Replacements
Here are a few other commerical offerings for Office ribbon menus.
I haven't tried any of these, so use at your own risk, though I'd be happy to review them if anyone wants to send them to me.
Classic Menu for Office 2007 , by AddinTools
Minimize the ribbon , by DevComponents
Mitchell Ashley
Converging Network, LLC
Personal blog: http://theconvergingnetwork.com
Personal podcast: http://www.clickcaster.com/ss