53 ms·

I still use Word 2003 because the ribbon is evil (translated, it degrades the advantages of a toolbar and takes twice as many clicks to get things done).

emeril 2y ago
I'm jealous - I held onto Excel 2003 until 2018 at which point Win10 couldn't really run it anymore - all office after 2003 is a step backwards IMO I use Office 2010 which seems moderately stable (2007 was a complete mess) + ubitmenu though I am occasionally irked that 2010 isn't fully compatible with nested comments some colleagues use...
- graemep 2y ago
  Why not use Libre Office?
  - badsectoracula 2y ago
    Yeah, Libre Office has -IMO- the best approach by allowing different UIs and i find the "single toolbar" superior to the ribbon-like interface or the "mass overload" of toolbars the default/office-2003-like UI has. Obviously the single toolbar only provides the most common and basic functionality but that's what i'd need in a toolbar - and if i'd need more i could probably customize it (probably, i don't know, never had the need :-P).
anakaine 2y ago
I thoroughly disagree. Most things I can get to on the ribbon within 1-2 clicks. It's worth the effort to get to grips with the new Word. I came from the old school, and am still powering along through professional studies and office work as a relative power user.
- dingaling 2y ago
  I recently worked on an admin project with a group of varying experience and grade, from months to decades using MS Office. It's the first time in years I've had to use 'ribbon' apps. Not one of the staff used the ribbon directly, they just searched for everything using Word's titlebar search field and picked the option from the results. Every time, unless it was something like embolden that has a keyboard shortcut. I tried hunting and pecking through the ribbon but it was such a guessing-game, trying to imagine where the UX designer had filed the option, that I eventually relented and started using the search field too.
  - mandarax8 2y ago
    The search field is just a rudimentary command line. Reminds me of CAD programs which do have a more fully fledged command line but also incredibly dense ribbons/toolbars.
- bonyt 2y ago
  Where the ribbon fails most for me is when you narrow the window width and various options are made basically inaccessible.
- rkagerer 2y ago
  > ...within 1-2 clicks That's the problem. Toolbar buttons ought to be ONE-click shortcuts. Menus are multi-click. My frustration stemmed primarily from having to constantly bounce back and forth between toolbar tabs to get certain tasks done (it's been a while so I can't remember the exact use cases, maybe formatting table borders and fonts/bold/etc). In those cases it legit doubled my clicks. The ribbon essentially took my menus, and made them waste vast amounts of precious vertical screen real estate - not to mention less consistency in presentation & discoverability (particularly when other software I wasn't as familiar with began to copy the trend). If I recall, older versions also did a better job of surfacing keyboard shortcuts (via tooltips), so you would inherently learn the ones you used most as you used the software.
protomolecule 2y ago
I like the ribbon and find it's better suited for my casual use of Excel and Word.
smarx007 2y ago
The ribbon trades space for less clicks. You may complain that it takes too much space, but I find "twice as many clicks" hard to buy.
- hulitu 2y ago
  It is not twice as many. It is tenths of many. Where is the page setup in the ribbon ?
  - smarx007 2y ago
    2nd tab, page size button
  - wongogue 2y ago
    It’s same. Previously it was File menu > click Page Setup > use the dialog box. On Word 2021, it’s Layout ribbon > click more Page Setup settings > use the dialog box. It’s even one less if you just want basic settings like margin, size etc. and it live updates.
mckravchyk 2y ago
I guess it also does not default to cloud saving over local.

emeril 2y ago

I'm jealous - I held onto Excel 2003 until 2018 at which point Win10 couldn't really run it anymore - all office after 2003 is a step backwards IMO I use Office 2010 which seems moderately stable (2007 was a complete mess) + ubitmenu though I am occasionally irked that 2010 isn't fully compatible with nested comments some colleagues use...

graemep 2y ago
Why not use Libre Office?
- badsectoracula 2y ago
  Yeah, Libre Office has -IMO- the best approach by allowing different UIs and i find the "single toolbar" superior to the ribbon-like interface or the "mass overload" of toolbars the default/office-2003-like UI has. Obviously the single toolbar only provides the most common and basic functionality but that's what i'd need in a toolbar - and if i'd need more i could probably customize it (probably, i don't know, never had the need :-P).

anakaine 2y ago

I thoroughly disagree. Most things I can get to on the ribbon within 1-2 clicks. It's worth the effort to get to grips with the new Word. I came from the old school, and am still powering along through professional studies and office work as a relative power user.

dingaling 2y ago
I recently worked on an admin project with a group of varying experience and grade, from months to decades using MS Office. It's the first time in years I've had to use 'ribbon' apps. Not one of the staff used the ribbon directly, they just searched for everything using Word's titlebar search field and picked the option from the results. Every time, unless it was something like embolden that has a keyboard shortcut. I tried hunting and pecking through the ribbon but it was such a guessing-game, trying to imagine where the UX designer had filed the option, that I eventually relented and started using the search field too.
- mandarax8 2y ago
  The search field is just a rudimentary command line. Reminds me of CAD programs which do have a more fully fledged command line but also incredibly dense ribbons/toolbars.
bonyt 2y ago
Where the ribbon fails most for me is when you narrow the window width and various options are made basically inaccessible.
rkagerer 2y ago
> ...within 1-2 clicks That's the problem. Toolbar buttons ought to be ONE-click shortcuts. Menus are multi-click. My frustration stemmed primarily from having to constantly bounce back and forth between toolbar tabs to get certain tasks done (it's been a while so I can't remember the exact use cases, maybe formatting table borders and fonts/bold/etc). In those cases it legit doubled my clicks. The ribbon essentially took my menus, and made them waste vast amounts of precious vertical screen real estate - not to mention less consistency in presentation & discoverability (particularly when other software I wasn't as familiar with began to copy the trend). If I recall, older versions also did a better job of surfacing keyboard shortcuts (via tooltips), so you would inherently learn the ones you used most as you used the software.

protomolecule 2y ago

I like the ribbon and find it's better suited for my casual use of Excel and Word.

smarx007 2y ago

The ribbon trades space for less clicks. You may complain that it takes too much space, but I find "twice as many clicks" hard to buy.

hulitu 2y ago
It is not twice as many. It is tenths of many. Where is the page setup in the ribbon ?
- smarx007 2y ago
  2nd tab, page size button
- wongogue 2y ago
  It’s same. Previously it was File menu > click Page Setup > use the dialog box. On Word 2021, it’s Layout ribbon > click more Page Setup settings > use the dialog box. It’s even one less if you just want basic settings like margin, size etc. and it live updates.

mckravchyk 2y ago

I guess it also does not default to cloud saving over local.