Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

Avner Kashtan — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 17:20:22 GMT

Great post. Knowing the guiding principals behind the UI design (not to mention knowing there IS one. :) is a great help in understanding the UI.

Even though, as a hardcore geek myself, I always find myself looking for the Tools -> Options -> Advanced menu...

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

iGav — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 17:46:02 GMT

But how will the ribbon affect those of us who have been using Word day in day out for years and years???

For instance, I tend not to use my mouse to do things with buttons on toolbars. nor do I tend to use the mouse with menus. What I do though is use the alt key sequences to acheive 90% of interactions with the program.

Will these shortcuts remain the same, or will I have to learn an entirely new way of using the program?

What I can tell you is that IF the ribbon means I will have to find a new way of doing everything which I now do quickly, efficiently and without having to think about it, then I shall NOT want to upgrade, nor I suspect will anyone who uses Word to any degree of proficiency. So I would suggest that you should at least make it possible to continue using the UI that we have been using for such a long time, otherwise we just might stop using your software once and for all

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

russ — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 18:07:06 GMT

Why don't you just go back to using typewriters iGav? You seem to be more at home in the past, perhaps you should stay there while the rest of us upgrade to these fancy new computers, automobiles, and electricity.

On a more serious note Microsoft has already stated that there will be an "alt-compatibility" mode where none of the ALT keyboard shortcuts are changed - meaning you can continue to use them just like you do now. But for those of us who like to learn new things there is a new ALT keyboard mode that makes much more sense and gives you on-screen indicators (i.e. pressing ALT causes letters to popup over everything on the screen, pressing that letter causes letters to popup on more specific items in that sub-area, and so on so it is very easy to learn the shortcuts as you are working with the program.)

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

anon — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 20:49:21 GMT

Jensen, on contextualization. Big concept indeed. Here are my thoughts. Many moons ago, when I used to teach Word to non-techies, I always had a very hard time explaining feature "x" that required to select an object, for instance a word, and then click on a toolbar button, only then to proceed with feature "y" where you would first click on a toolbar button and only then tell Word where to put the object.
Well that's not contextualization, that's simply state management. Do you guys plan to revamp this?

PS : I didn't receive an email notification for the Office 12 beta. Do you guys plan to extend the reach of the beta so that we don't spend our time asking instead of just using the product?

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

jensenh — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:30:36 GMT

anon, you can register for the beta program here:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

anon — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:42:57 GMT

Thanks for the link, but I have already registered a while ago. I have read elsewhere a bunch of people didn't get the betaplace email either.

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

Step — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 23:23:02 GMT

Use specific labels - that's a hard one! As you point out, engineers want everything to be as "correct" as possible, which usually ends up making the labels near useless. I'm glad to see you're fighting that for the next release - I look forward to seeing how well the ribbon eliminates "rock-looking". :)

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

Mario Goebbels — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:27:52 GMT

Since you mentioned "beta", are you allowed to disclose when it's going to start?

re: Most People Are Not Trained In Geology

iGav — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 17:33:42 GMT

Ross

I am more than capable of using a computer and am no Luddite, what I will object to however as a long-term user will be if I am reduced from being a power user who can achieve most of what I need to achieve efficeintly and without having to look about for how the programmers have decided to change the way I work.

It is the user of the software who should be paramount in the minds of the programmers.

As someone who uses this software nearly all day everyday it is extremely important to me that any upgrade doesn't make me LESS productive than I already am - if it does, then as far as I am concerned then it is a pointless upgrade and will only serve to alienate me

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