[IxDA Discuss] Critiquing the Office 2007 (was Re: Microsoft to license Office 2007 UI system)

[Todd Zaki Warfel]

On Nov 28, 2006, at 2:09 PM, Dan Saffer wrote:

> I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I think the Office  
> 2007 reboot is probably the best interaction design work to come  
> out of Microsoft in a long while. It's certainly the most major  
> refresh of a major software suite since...well, I don't recall. If  
> you look at the design decisions that were made--and HOW and WHY  
> they were made--it's pretty impressive. Jensen Harris's blog is  
> required reading on the subject, and should probably be required  
> reading for all interaction designers:

Thanks for the links, Dan. Harris has some interesting things on his  
blog, both from him and the readers. Responses, as you can expect,  
are both positive and negative.

Harris points out that the Ribbon in Word '07 only takes up 135  
pixels, whereas past versions took up 140-143 pixels. Unless he's  
turning all the toolbars on, 2000 and 2003 don't take up 140-143  
pixels in height. However, shouldn't they be measuring which toolbars  
people actually use? Making a decision based on "maximum exposure"  
when 90% aren't using it in that mode seems flawed. Now, if 90% are  
using it with all toolbars turned on and at the top instead of using  
a mix of top toolbars and palettes at the side, then I'll shut up.  
But I doubt that's the case. Just look at the responses on his blog,  
or wonder around your favorite corporate office building using MS  
Office.

One of the readers comments: "Looking pretty doesn't get the job  
done. Just because the interface stays as clean as it was on day one  
doesn't make it efficient. Add my voice to Stephen, et al. Losing the  
ability to customize the ribbon and tear off menus and tools is  
degrading my productivity. "

I concur with this concern.

On the flip side, the appearance of a contextual formatting menu  
right by the selected text is definitely an interaction improvement.  
That's a more companies should follow.

One of the other comments on his blog that aligns with my earlier  
stated concern about the height of the ribbon:
I think that one of the more efficient windows setups involves  
sticking the taskbar on the right edge of the screen.  This is  
because typical monitors are "wider" than they are tall.  When I am  
viewing a word document, I already have enough width, but i can  
always user more height.  Additionally, you can fit more "task-bar- 
buttons" (ie: programs) on the taskbar when it is on the right, and  
still see some of the text/program description (not just the icon).

Again, I just think the ribbon itself is a bad model - emphasize  
everything and you emphasize nothing. There other models in Office  
'07 that are good and should be followed by others (e.g. the  
contextual formatting menus close to selected text). But that ribbon  
is very prevalent, which makes it difficult to overlook.

Harris comments in several places on his blog, as does several of the  
readers "I've been using it for several months now and I'm finally  
confident we have the right design."

I'd hope that adoption and adaption doesn't take several months.  
Isn't a better goal to be within minutes or days? Yes, as with any  
major shift, there is some time required to adjust. But that time  
should be a minimum.

So, congrats for contextual menus MS Office team, but that ribbon is  
an eyesore - keep working on that one.

Cheers!

Todd Zaki Warfel
Partner, Design & Usability Specialist
Messagefirst | designing and usability consulting
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