Here Comes the Ribbon... Shudder

Get ready for the Ribbon -- Microsoft's broken word.

(When it was first being marketed by Microsoft, one of the promises of Windows was that a consistent user interface would increase productivity. And so pretty much all software these days uses toolbar, menus, keyboard shortcut, right-click menus.... By knowing where things are, you work faster. One item that broke the consistent UI rule was toolbar flyouts.)

But now the Ribbon breaks the rule of consistency, and the UI we have become used to over the last 15 years.

It's in SpaceClaim 2007, SolidWorks 2008, and is coming to AutoCAD (according to public statements made by Autodesk employees).

Due to the nature of work I am doing for a client, I had to install Office 2007 last week, and got to experience the Ribbon firsthand. Talk about an initial hit on productivity!

After spending some time with Word 2007 -- wasting time, actually -- looking for everyday items, like Options (to turn off all that irritating stuff that Word does automatically), and finding it renamed "Advanced."

I think the primary flaw in the Ribbon is its width. Menus are short, toolbar tend to be a half-screen-width or less. Even the keyboard is split in two, with one hand operating on either side.

But the Ribbon goes full width across the screen, and scanning that much becomes a problem. I recall reading once that the largest number of items the human brain can grasp at once is 3. When the Ribbon goes on and on with option after option, it overwhelms.

And then there is the apparent randomness of size: some buttons are large, some small, some are text. And the complexity. The Page Layout tab has five panels, each panel has 3-7 buttons -- some stacked, some side by side, and most mixed -- with many buttons also being flyouts.

It's not good.

Update

Reports by bloggers from SolidWorks World 2008 show the ribbon being a much complained aobut topic in front of executives. Sources include:

* SolidWorks First Ever Press Day by Roopinder Tara
* Jeff Ray’s Comments on the UI Changes by Matt Lombard

It seems that companies may be in denial over the negative aspects of the ribbon, just as they were when we first learned that Microsoft deprecated the all-important-to-CAD-users OpenGL in Vista.

Comments

[KevinT]

I've had it on my lap top since November. Ribbon word that is. Our IT dude at work, who is the most pro micro$oft person I've ever met said I should give it a chance.
So I did that.
But its horrid I say. Horrid, horrid, horrid.
Open office here I come....

I could not agree more...Ribbon is a horrible interface. There is no logical organization to the tools and more often that not you end up using little drop down icon which opens a toolbox with the old interface and setting options.

[Colin French]

I’ll ignore the usability issues I’ve noticed with the Ribbon and just ask Microsoft one question: Are monitors getting taller or wider these days?

Since the answer is ‘wider’, why on earth would they create a new UI that eats up even more of the vertical dimension of the screen while leaving large blank areas on either side of the page?

Microsoft decided to create a new UI which requires a significant adjustment period for users, so why not take advantage of that and switch to something like palettes on the side of the screen? Use some of that blank space and let me see more of my document.

[Henrik Vallgren]

Apple apps tend to have a simple toolbar with commonly used options. E.g. mac mail have nine buttons and a search field.

I can imagine someone at Microsoft thinking "let's take this idea one step further". The result is, in my opinion, awful.

[Tony Tanzillo]

These days, software companies like Microsoft seem to prefer desiging products that appeal and cater to new users.

For Microsoft, financial performance is very closely tied to new PC sales, which means they have clear motives to design software that is deliberately slow and loaded with 'eye candy' and other resource-hungry features of questionable usefulness.

That not so coincidentally, serves to drive new PC sales. Of course, a new PC also means another sale of a Microsoft OS license. So, we are stuck in a quite vicious, perpetucal cycle where Microsoft and others are able to use slow, bug-infested, resource-hungry products as a way to drive sales of new PCs which in-turn, drives their own revenue growth.

[Bill Fane]

I was forced into Office 2007 because it is the new "standard" at the school where I teach.

I agree with the comment about catering to newbies; I probably use Word a lot more than many users because of the freelance writing I do on the side.

It has been my observation so far that on average the ribbon is forcing me to make about 30% more mouse clicks than previous versions needed.

WordPerfect 5.2 for DOS is still faster to use and more powerful than any Word version, but admittedly it was a little intimidating to beginners.