Horizontal Menus

Microsoft is showing yet another change to the Windows user interface. The change that jumps out at me is the "horizontal menu": click a word on the menu bar, and the menu shows up horizontally, instead of vertically -- more like a cross between menus and toolbars. You can see a screen grab of PowerPoint here.

Will this be the new look fo AutoCAD 2007, SolidWorks 2007, et al?

Comments

[Doug Barense]

I haven't seen any video on the new Microsoft User Interface yet and I applaud the focus on the User Interface but I think it will fall short based on what little I’ve seen. This change looks like it perpetuates the hiding of command needed for specific tasks. Autodesk has done a poor job with CUI but the Workspace feature is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately Workspaces take too long to switch between and take some learning to configure but they allow for CAD Managers to setup Workspaces for specific clients (i.e. Retail, Learning, Worship, etc.) and for tasks (i.e. Floor Plans, Elevations, Schedules, etc.). Autodesk did good by creating CUI and Workspaces but failed miserably by delivering new features that fail similarly to Release 13.

[Mike DeKoning]

This is actually the new interface only for the next version of Office. The "horizontal menu" is more like a set of tabs which at a click display related task icons in a "ribbon" underneath. Watch the Bill Gates keynote at PDC05 to see this in action. This might be an improvement over the dozens of commands and toolbars in AutoCAD. Microsoft claims that many features in Office go unused because most users don't know that they are available.