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Microsoft To Give Office 365, Office.com Apps a Makeover (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the facelift dept.

On the heels of recent redesigns by Google and Apple, Microsoft is giving its Office apps a facelift over the coming months. From a report: Over the coming months, Microsoft will begin rolling out changes to the interface of Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Office 365 and Office Online (Office.com) users. Key to the Office app redesign are an updated Ribbon, icon refreshes and new ways to more easily see changes coming to the Office suite. There's a simplified version of the Office Ribbon, which allows users to collapse it so it takes up less space and hides many options, or keep it expanded into the current three-line view. Microsoft is starting to roll out this new Ribbon in the web version of Word to "select consumer users today in Office.com." In July, Microsoft will also make this new Ribbon design available in Outlook for Windows. "We've found that the same ten commands are used 95% of the time by everybody," said Jon Friedman, General Manager of Design Management and Operations. In Outlook such as "Reply," "Reply All" and "Forward" are basically universal. But that other five percent is different for every person, so Microsoft is adding an option to remove commands from the Ribbon, such as Archive, for example, and pin others to it, such as "Reply by IM."

9 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. I've never quite gotten used to... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've never quite gotten used to the "ribbon" interface in MS Office apps since 2007. Which is why I prefer LibreOffice, a menu system (accessible with keyboard shortcuts) seems much more logical to me than a mess of icons up top.

    I'd love to see a right/middle button context menu that can be popped up.

    1. Re:I've never quite gotten used to... by avandesande · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The thing that irks me the most is not that they created a ribbon interface but that you couldn't turn it off and revert to a menu system. It would be trivial to maintain both interfaces.

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      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:I've never quite gotten used to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The best version of Office was 2003 when they had a menu system. Users who are truly proficient in Office had their productivity hindered by the ribbon, and the slow but progressive removal of keyboard shortcuts that no longer work (both in Office and Windows). I can name several shortcuts that simply no longer work, and for no good reason besides forcing the user to a dumbed down graphical/mouse interface.

      And FFS, fix the search functionality in powerpoint so that it works like the rest of office and doesn't "helpfully" remember previous searches. I got pushed the latest upgrade of powerpoint a few months ago and this is seriously broken. Does anyone even test these releases for usability? Apparently not...

    3. Re:I've never quite gotten used to... by iampiti · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yeah, and it would also been trivial to keep the classic start menu on Windows 8 but in both cases the change obviously didn't happen for technical reasons but for commercial ones: Microsoft just thought it better to force people to use the new way.
      Also, Libreoffice has done just that: Added a new ribbon-like menu system but also kept the classic menu system. And the thing is pretty configurable. Just as it should be

    4. Re:I've never quite gotten used to... by hackertourist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The ribbon system was somewhat better than Word's unholy mess of unlogical menus and dialogs stacked 3 levels deep. Compared to a well-designed menu system it still stinks though.
      When you're working in a table for instance, you keep having to switch between 4-5 tabs that each contain 3 functions you need, and a dozen useless ones.

      The Ribbon is also optimized for people who remember things visually (so they can find the icon even if it's in a sea of similar-looking icons) to the detriment of people who remember things by name (for whom the menu system with actual descriptions instead of just a cartoon was perfect).

      And now that Microsoft has expanded its use to e.g. Windows Explorer in W10, that has gone down the drain as well.

    5. Re:I've never quite gotten used to... by jwhyche · · Score: 3

      Word isn't one the ones I use that often but I do use it enough that trying to remember where the icon is and what it looks like is #$%^ing hassle

      An this would be the whole point of my statement, and the cruft of your problem. You don't use it every day. I do use it ever day and so to so many other people. Sure, it took a little getting used to at first. But after that I, and so many other people, realize that it is a better system.

      Where it really shines is on my surface pro, or any other touch screen laptop/tablet. In a few swipes with my finger and what I'm looking for is done. Menu systems on small screens suck.

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      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  2. Queue retraining employees in... by ebrandsberg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, the ribbon was supposed to allow a more generic interface, where an action is associated with the icon. If the icons change, then you have effectively forced retraining of people that use this. The menu style interface uses a bit more space, but has the advantage of providing "discoverable" functions for users. IMHO, this makes it a much better interface, in particular for people that only infrequently use a tool. It is much easier to click through the menus looking for a function than to figure out what all the icons mean.

  3. Death to the Ribbon by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hope they finally remove the ribbon and replace it with a space saving and much easier to use menu system.

  4. Wait a minute... by ZenShadow · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...did they just re-invent the toolbar?

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