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>keyboard shortcut documentation Who are you targeting as the main user of this software? Most users do not depend on keyboard shortcuts but rather repeatable

>keyboard shortcut documentation Who are you targeting as the main user of this software? Most users do not depend on keyboard shortcuts but rather repeatable actions they can use the mouse for. The ribbon only annoys power users which is a number much much smaller than 50% of all users. Plus keyboard shortcuts still exist with the ribbon system. As someone who has spent a lot of time with “regular users”, no body is complaining about the ribbon…

pessimizer 3y ago
> includes keyboard shortcut documentation You seem to have omitted a word. > Plus keyboard shortcuts still exist with the ribbon system. So this objection is completely manufactured? > The ribbon only annoys power users which is a number much much smaller than 50% of all users. It's 0% of the users who are new to the software, and 90% of the users who have used the software for some time. The UI shouldn't be optimized for people who are only going to use the software a few times unless the software is only meant to be used a few times. But in the case of office software, what you want is affordances that can be eliminated at the user's own pace while they get to know the software over years or decades. Things like indicating the keyboard shortcut next to the menu entry, which is standard for most UI toolkits. Or things like allowing the "ribbon" to be disabled, which I would be really surprised if you could come up with a reasonable opposition to.
dpassens 3y ago
It also annoys infrequent users, because you need to remember into which ribbon they stuffed what you want to do and what icon it uses. With a classical menu bar, the organization tends to be more intuitive (in my experience, at least) and you can skim the different menu items to find what you need.
- oblio 3y ago
  You can search the ribbon for commands, there's a literal search box at the top and it even has a keyboard shortcut :-)
  - dpassens 3y ago
    That seems to depend on the specific version of Office, if the screenshots I looked at are to be believed. Office 2016, for example, doesn't seem to have it. Edit: Maybe this depends on settings rather than versions? Upon further investigation, I've found some screenshots of Word/PowerPoint 2016 that have a search bar and some that don't.
AlienRobot 3y ago
Were they complaining about the menu bars?

pessimizer 3y ago

> includes keyboard shortcut documentation You seem to have omitted a word. > Plus keyboard shortcuts still exist with the ribbon system. So this objection is completely manufactured? > The ribbon only annoys power users which is a number much much smaller than 50% of all users. It's 0% of the users who are new to the software, and 90% of the users who have used the software for some time. The UI shouldn't be optimized for people who are only going to use the software a few times unless the software is only meant to be used a few times. But in the case of office software, what you want is affordances that can be eliminated at the user's own pace while they get to know the software over years or decades. Things like indicating the keyboard shortcut next to the menu entry, which is standard for most UI toolkits. Or things like allowing the "ribbon" to be disabled, which I would be really surprised if you could come up with a reasonable opposition to.

dpassens 3y ago

It also annoys infrequent users, because you need to remember into which ribbon they stuffed what you want to do and what icon it uses. With a classical menu bar, the organization tends to be more intuitive (in my experience, at least) and you can skim the different menu items to find what you need.

oblio 3y ago
You can search the ribbon for commands, there's a literal search box at the top and it even has a keyboard shortcut :-)
- dpassens 3y ago
  That seems to depend on the specific version of Office, if the screenshots I looked at are to be believed. Office 2016, for example, doesn't seem to have it. Edit: Maybe this depends on settings rather than versions? Upon further investigation, I've found some screenshots of Word/PowerPoint 2016 that have a search bar and some that don't.

AlienRobot 3y ago

Were they complaining about the menu bars?