> -----Original Message----- > From: Dana Tierney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 7:52 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: [Computer] Beat Windows Vista Business Edition > > thank you both for pointing that out. I will tell the person who has > this behemoth on her laptop. > > I guess, though, that I just don't see a benefit to the the upgrade, > and certainly not one to justify that type of struggle. I don't want > styles to automatically "correct" my outline. I don't want the > Spellcheck in Outlook to relentlessly change "your user name" to > "you're user name" in my work emails. I just want a little word > processor where I can peacefully make a list without worrying about > word wrap but also without having to say noooo... I really *do* want > this to be Roman numeral III.
I'm not sure how much of that's really changed from Word 2003. If you used styles in 2003 they were pretty draconian as well. Word 2007 has more autocorrect options - but the basic system is exactly the same. To change it click the office button, then click "options", then "Proofing". Now press the "AutoCorrect Options". You can now turn off all corrections or delete certain entries (or add you own). > My question is, what is so much better about hiding the menu and > putting "Save as" under some hieroglyph for "Home" instead of under > "File" where they have very suggessfully trained users to expect it? It > flies in the face of usability as it has been explained to me, and if > it does something better it, this soomething does not appear to be > something that I do with Office. Well - it's a tightrope. The basic rule of thumb (and you know about rules of thumb) is that you shouldn't change a defacto standard unless it Improves usability by 100%. This is a weird rule of thumb but it's basically saying "Follow the de facto standard unless you're damn sure you've got something better"... or, more precisely: "follow the de facto standard unless you've done your homework enough to be able to quantify your usability gain". ;^) I'm not sure if the ribbon improves usability by 100% but it really does improve it a great deal. The office button isn't intuitive (you're exactly right - it's a completely non-descriptive icon), but it is easily discoverable. This is usually considered a good trade off for a commonly used element where space savings are desired (especially, as in this case, when a single icon just doesn't cut it). The actual number of unintuitive, but discoverable elements needs to be low (they need to be remembered to be useful so you have to keep the total number small) bit it's a valid UI decision. The philosophy here is that everything you see on screen (in the ribbon) is for working with your document. The office button, by comparison, is for working with your _computer_. It's a subtle distinction but an important one: the office button is the only part of the experience worried about files, printers, email, program options, etc. (You can also easily add Office Button tools to the quick access bar, but that's just a shortcut and doesn't really ruin the analogy.) If you want more check out the archives of Jensen Harris' blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/default.aspx The posts from right before the launch cover a lot of their thinking in detail. I'm not saying that you need to read the blog to use the software, but if you you're interested in how things got thought through it's really interesting. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 Experience Flex 2 & MX7 integration & create powerful cross-platform RIAs http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJQ Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:231379 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
