5 ms·

I think it depends on what kind of user you are. If you're doing ad-hoc formatting all the time, maybe the ribbon is OK. But if you are used to managing styles

I think it depends on what kind of user you are. If you're doing ad-hoc formatting all the time, maybe the ribbon is OK. But if you are used to managing styles and religiously applying them and using templates, I found that the new UI sucks (on both Windows and Mac). The "ribbon" was widely mocked when it came out; I'm curious as to what you find easier about it.

heretogetout 4y ago
I wasn't a big Word user prior to the ribbon so I can't compare before and after, however I've found applying styles about as easy as it can be (select text, click the style in the ribbon). Were they in a more convenient location before?
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  If Word had styles prior to the ribbon, I didn’t know about it. I imagine very few people knew they existed.
- NonNefarious 4y ago
  There was always a style drop-down in the toolbar. My experience goes back to Word for Windows (named thusly to differentiate it from the DOS version). Check it out: https://www.idgcdn.com.au/article/images/750x750/dimg/m_img_11401.jpg https://www.idgcdn.com.au/article/images/750x750/dimg/m_img_... It's the management and use of styles that I find has regressed drastically. When I press the Style drop-down, I want to see only MY styles. I don't want to scroll through a shitload of canned styles that Microsoft has laden the application with, featuring every variety of color and thickness of underline. The last time I tried Word (not that long ago), there was no way to get rid of this huge pile of crap. Word peaked at version 6, I think. Is there anything important missing from this toolbar? https://www.versionmuseum.com/images/applications/microsoft-word/microsoft-word^1993^word-for-windows-6.0-tip-of-the-day.png https://www.versionmuseum.com/images/applications/microsoft-...
  - heretogetout 4y ago
    I've been fortunate enough that the canned styles have worked for my requirements but I can definitely see how they won't work for every case.
kayodelycaon 4y ago
The review ribbon has been very convenient. I use it constantly as an author. Flipping between landscape and portrait and changing margins isn’t buried in an obscure dialog box. (I do this often to make signs.)
- NonNefarious 4y ago
  OK, I could see how review controls would be useful. Could they not be added to the toolbar before? With due respect to your opinion, I don't think sign-making is a major use case for a word processor. I would think that a vector-art program would be far better suited to that, even a free one like Inkscape.
  - kayodelycaon 4y ago
    The ribbon interface is more than just buttons on a toolbar. It adds discoverability to many features I didn’t even know existed and I’ve used Word since Office 95. I find the differing visual layout to be a lot easier to read than a lot of similarly sized buttons. Any place where people work will end up having signs. I’ve seen Word (and Google docs) used to make simple text signs and more complex ones using clip art. What I don’t see is a lot of signs being made. Not nearly enough to justify learning Inkscape.

heretogetout 4y ago

I wasn't a big Word user prior to the ribbon so I can't compare before and after, however I've found applying styles about as easy as it can be (select text, click the style in the ribbon). Were they in a more convenient location before?

kayodelycaon 4y ago
If Word had styles prior to the ribbon, I didn’t know about it. I imagine very few people knew they existed.
NonNefarious 4y ago
There was always a style drop-down in the toolbar. My experience goes back to Word for Windows (named thusly to differentiate it from the DOS version). Check it out: https://www.idgcdn.com.au/article/images/750x750/dimg/m_img_11401.jpg https://www.idgcdn.com.au/article/images/750x750/dimg/m_img_... It's the management and use of styles that I find has regressed drastically. When I press the Style drop-down, I want to see only MY styles. I don't want to scroll through a shitload of canned styles that Microsoft has laden the application with, featuring every variety of color and thickness of underline. The last time I tried Word (not that long ago), there was no way to get rid of this huge pile of crap. Word peaked at version 6, I think. Is there anything important missing from this toolbar? https://www.versionmuseum.com/images/applications/microsoft-word/microsoft-word^1993^word-for-windows-6.0-tip-of-the-day.png https://www.versionmuseum.com/images/applications/microsoft-...
- heretogetout 4y ago
  I've been fortunate enough that the canned styles have worked for my requirements but I can definitely see how they won't work for every case.

kayodelycaon 4y ago

The review ribbon has been very convenient. I use it constantly as an author. Flipping between landscape and portrait and changing margins isn’t buried in an obscure dialog box. (I do this often to make signs.)

NonNefarious 4y ago
OK, I could see how review controls would be useful. Could they not be added to the toolbar before? With due respect to your opinion, I don't think sign-making is a major use case for a word processor. I would think that a vector-art program would be far better suited to that, even a free one like Inkscape.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  The ribbon interface is more than just buttons on a toolbar. It adds discoverability to many features I didn’t even know existed and I’ve used Word since Office 95. I find the differing visual layout to be a lot easier to read than a lot of similarly sized buttons. Any place where people work will end up having signs. I’ve seen Word (and Google docs) used to make simple text signs and more complex ones using clip art. What I don’t see is a lot of signs being made. Not nearly enough to justify learning Inkscape.