[IxDA Discuss] Anyone else having trouble getting used to Office 2007 menus?

[Jeff Axup]

Michael,

It's my impression that the new layout is grouped fairly logically and is
very visual which makes it easier to find features. Furthermore this UI has
removed many of the things we "loved to hate" about the old, established,
UI, such as 1) pointlessly named technical menus 2) dynamically hidden menu
items (who thought that one up?) 3) icon-bars that are too small to
comprehend 4) duplication of items between menus and icon-bars.

Any new UI, even if it is arguably better, is new, and thus requires
re-learning for existing users to be able to do established tasks, etc. MS
will probably get a backlash about this from experienced users who had
memorized the old badly-designed system and thus made it reasonably usable.
However in the best interests of all new users and probably long-term
productivity, the change should still be made to the new UI.

However, with all that said, I'd like to see some comparison timings for
typical tasks in Word between an expert Word2003 user and an expert 2007
user and see who's faster. I am wondering if they grouped functions in those
tabs based on "logical similarity", but not based on typical task flows -
which might potentially hinder task completion times. But it couldn't be a
heck of a lot worse than the old menu-driven interface.

-Jeff

On 3/6/07, David Malouf <dave.ixd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I Michael,
>
> I have been using it at home for quite awhile and I LOVE it!
> Especially Powerpoint for some reason, though Excel is good too.
>
> I think the biggest problem I've noticed is that people don't realize
> that the circular logo at the top is actually a BIG menu item. Save,
> Undo, Redo etc are in there AND they can customize the quickbar at the
> top to add other items that seemed primary to me that didn't make it
> in their mind.
>
> Pet peeve is that Word defaults its "normal" text to have double
> spacing on, which for me is totally an HTML thing that doesn't work
> for me.
>
> Otherwise I have learned to totally love it and now at work I don't
> have it, and I really miss it. :(
>
> I do have to say that I tend to float between versions of Office
> really well. At one point I had Mac Office 2004 (work), OpenOffice,
> and office 2003 all running at the same time.
>
> -- dave
>
> On 3/6/07, Michael Micheletti <michael.micheletti at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I've got a new laptop with Office 2007 installed on it. And oh my
> goodness
> > am I ever sloooow getting anything done in Word or Powerpoint. I keep
> > searching for a "Revert" command in Word especially, where I'm normally
> > swift and assured. The missing Help menu spooks me too (it's a teensy
> button
> > now). Didn't find anything there, will check online next.
> >
> > I'm sure they've tested the apps 1000s of times - I've seen their labs,
> been
> > a test subject, and know what pros MS are about usability testing. But
> here
> > I am, expert-level Word user for years, struggling. Is it just me
> finding
> > out my brain is now full and I should park on the porch in my rocking
> chair?
> > Or are others also challenged by this obviously attractive, improved,
> > better, tested, etc interface?
> >
> > Michael Micheletti
> >
> > p.s. It sort of reminds me of something a support guy at MS told me
> years
> > ago when I was beta-testing Windows NT: "it's instinctive once you get
> used
> > to it."
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> --
> David Malouf
> http://synapticburn.com/
> http://ixda.org/
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-- 
Best Regards,
Jeff
____________________________________________________________________________
Jeff Axup      Ph.D. Candidate - University of Queensland, Brisbane,
Australia
                   Principal Consultant, Mobile Community Design Consulting,
San Diego

Research:    Mobile Group Research Methods, Social Networks, Group Usability
E-mail:        axup <at> userdesign.com
Blog:           http://mobilecommunitydesign.com
Moblog:       http://memeaddict.blogspot.com
Academic:   http://www.infenv.itee.uq.edu.au
____________________________________________________________________________