3 ms·

The ribbon was invented when we had 4:3 monitors. Recently I helped my sister on a 16:9 laptop, yikes. The actual content of excel is left in a narrow long stri

The ribbon was invented when we had 4:3 monitors. Recently I helped my sister on a 16:9 laptop, yikes. The actual content of excel is left in a narrow long strip. Luckily it can be collapsed pretty easily.

jacobgkau 2y ago
What would you think about a vertical ribbon? I've seen some programs offering sidebars that partially replicate the functionality of the ribbon, but I don't think I've seen any yet that let you just move the entire ribbon to the side.
- danybittel 2y ago
  The ribbon has a fixed height. All it's elements have the same height, so you can arrange them side by side. If you have a ribbon on the side, the elements would need to have a fixed width. If you look at an office ribbon, it's going to be tricky. Probably better to use a single icon width, something like a photoshop toolbar.
- al_borland 2y ago
  Office v.X on OS X, back around 2001 had a command pallet, as many OS X apps did in those days. It was basically a vertical ribbon, but in its own floating Window. It’s my favorite version of Office to this day. Oddly enough, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote still work this way (with the pallet as part of the windows) and I don’t like it as well now. I guess it’s all a matter of what a person gets used to over time.
- fch42 2y ago
  Given the "ribbon" happened around the same time as screens getting wide, it probably was one of the worst sins against usability ever committed. Before, on a 4:3 screen with 1280x1024 resolution, you could see or work on a full page (A4 or letter) directly. With 1920x1080 and the ribbon, this regressed to ~ 2/3rds of a page. With lots of useless space around. Maybe it doesn't matter as much for spreadsheets. But for all else ... I can't curse snd swear properly, not in English nor in my native German, to express what I really feel about this pile of badness.
type0 2y ago
I thought it was invented to propel touch-screen usage, but I doubt it works well there
- fakehackers 2y ago
  [flagged]

jacobgkau 2y ago

What would you think about a vertical ribbon? I've seen some programs offering sidebars that partially replicate the functionality of the ribbon, but I don't think I've seen any yet that let you just move the entire ribbon to the side.

danybittel 2y ago
The ribbon has a fixed height. All it's elements have the same height, so you can arrange them side by side. If you have a ribbon on the side, the elements would need to have a fixed width. If you look at an office ribbon, it's going to be tricky. Probably better to use a single icon width, something like a photoshop toolbar.
al_borland 2y ago
Office v.X on OS X, back around 2001 had a command pallet, as many OS X apps did in those days. It was basically a vertical ribbon, but in its own floating Window. It’s my favorite version of Office to this day. Oddly enough, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote still work this way (with the pallet as part of the windows) and I don’t like it as well now. I guess it’s all a matter of what a person gets used to over time.
fch42 2y ago
Given the "ribbon" happened around the same time as screens getting wide, it probably was one of the worst sins against usability ever committed. Before, on a 4:3 screen with 1280x1024 resolution, you could see or work on a full page (A4 or letter) directly. With 1920x1080 and the ribbon, this regressed to ~ 2/3rds of a page. With lots of useless space around. Maybe it doesn't matter as much for spreadsheets. But for all else ... I can't curse snd swear properly, not in English nor in my native German, to express what I really feel about this pile of badness.

type0 2y ago

I thought it was invented to propel touch-screen usage, but I doubt it works well there

fakehackers 2y ago
[flagged]