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1280x(anywhere from 720 to 800) is probably the most common resolution for a modern widescreen laptop, and it's very common for Windows users to run with their

by camtarn 15y ago

1280x(anywhere from 720 to 800) is probably the most common resolution for a modern widescreen laptop, and it's very common for Windows users to run with their windows either maximized or manually dragged to take up the entire screen. The ribbon appears to be designed for this, with the option to present a less optimal interface for smaller screens by a combination of resizing interface elements and eliminating uncommonly used ones. Try resizing the Ribbon all the way from super-wide (if you've got dual monitors, it's particularly interesting) to really narrow. It's quite fun to watch, especially in Office products with zillions of interface controls - the giant buttons and large scrollable boxes full of options become groups of smaller buttons with text, then even smaller buttons without text, then collapse into a single menu, before disappearing altogether into the 'more' button.

Jamiecon 15y ago
Conveniently enough, this article has a helpful graph of the most common screen resolutions on Windows: https://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/26/improvements-in-windows-explorer.aspx https://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/26/improvements-...
- camtarn 15y ago
  Interesting - the most common resolution is even wider than I thought. Thanks for pointing that out - I'd read the article not long ago but had forgotten about that particular point :)
makeramen 15y ago
The resizing behavior you outline for the Ribbon is actually a horrible UI design decision for repeat actions, which most are. Example: If a user remembers the "Copy" button as the first big button, or paste as the third little button, etc. Next time you open the window at a different resolution, or you resize, everything changes. Your positional memory of this button is gone. I absolutely hate the Ribbon's design for this. (I don't have windows running, so I'm making this up as an example, but I know it has happened to me before) I prefer apple's "old" menu design over the Ribbon. Albeit seemingly archaic, it's actually a very useful place to store multiple commands in easily readable text that never changes position (especially on a mac, where the menu is always at the top toolbar).

by camtarn 15y ago

Jamiecon 15y ago

Conveniently enough, this article has a helpful graph of the most common screen resolutions on Windows: https://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/26/improvements-in-windows-explorer.aspx https://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/26/improvements-...

camtarn 15y ago
Interesting - the most common resolution is even wider than I thought. Thanks for pointing that out - I'd read the article not long ago but had forgotten about that particular point :)

makeramen 15y ago

The resizing behavior you outline for the Ribbon is actually a horrible UI design decision for repeat actions, which most are. Example: If a user remembers the "Copy" button as the first big button, or paste as the third little button, etc. Next time you open the window at a different resolution, or you resize, everything changes. Your positional memory of this button is gone. I absolutely hate the Ribbon's design for this. (I don't have windows running, so I'm making this up as an example, but I know it has happened to me before) I prefer apple's "old" menu design over the Ribbon. Albeit seemingly archaic, it's actually a very useful place to store multiple commands in easily readable text that never changes position (especially on a mac, where the menu is always at the top toolbar).