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Clippy, the infamous Office Assistant introduced in Microsoft Office '97 has a new rival in the category of unpopular user interface elements that spread voraciously. This time it is the ribbon toolbar which was unleashed in Office 2007 and is now making a widespread appearance in Windows 7 including the first makeover to mainstays Wordpad and Paint for 15 years.
Tim Sneath, energetic Microsoft evangelist for desktop experiences, yesterday previewed Windows 7 to a large horde of Australian software developers. Sneath was accompanying Steve Ballmer who was in Sydney to outline the Microsoft cloud computing vision known as Azure.
Sneath unveiled a plethora of Windows 7 features – gadgets can sit anywhere on the desktop, for instance, and no longer in a fixed sidebar – and one of these was the promotion of the Office 2007 ribbon as a major user interface component.
Two Windows built-in apps were demonstrated, the well-known Wordpad and Paint programs, both now sporting a shiny new ribbon bar. This is the first significant overhaul to both old-timers in 15 years.
You can find photographs below, but I do apologise in advance for the grainy quality. These are from the webcast – which you can view online at www.microsoft.com/australia/powertodevelopers - as you might expect, the shots I took from the audience on my iPhone were less than spectacular. However, you should be able to make out the ribbon.
Microsoft also played a video showing AutoCAD's latest release which also has implemented the ribbon user interface, foreshadowing the expectation that more and more applications will move to this model.
Microsoft debuted this ribbon interface in Office 2007. Interestingly, it was claimed to be the result of extensive, nay, massive, feedback. All those requests from Microsoft for your usage data to be submitted back to them has resulted in a phenomenal amount of data about how people actually use their computers.
For instance, it transpires out of every single action – besides moving up and down the document – the number one thing people do in Microsoft Word is paste. This happens far in excess of any other keystroke or action.
Consequently, the Microsoft Word ribbon bar has a big fat paste button in the #1 left-hand spot.
Yet, despite the intention that the ribbon would aid users in doing the things they want to do faster than before, many a power user has found it to have the opposite effect in slowing them down due to familiar icons and menu bars and Alt-key sequences having changed.
Clippy never reached the dizzying heights of becoming an official inclusion in the Windows operating system itself, and within ten years was obliterated gaining no spot in Office 2007. At least the ribbon can take heart it likely will gain greater acceptance and if it is pushed out it’ll most likely be in favour of some futuristic new user interface like voice commands.
David Bass
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