Microsoft Office Fluent – Official Name for MS Office 2007 Ribbon-based User Interface
Microsoft has officially name the new and redesigned user interface (UI) in Microsoft Office 2007 productivity applications as Microsoft Office Fluent, which replaces the traditional menus and toolbars found in previous releases of Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office Fluent, which more popular known as Ribbon, is a results-oriented design that enables people to focus on what they want to do rather than how to do it. New UI features will help organize and more effectively present application tools and capabilities, reduce design clutter and user interface interruptions. As a result, users can find and discover tools and features easier quicker, making Office apps easier to use. Thus, Fluent UI will support the creation of great-looking documents by enabling user to produce their best work more efficiently.
The new Microsoft Office 2007 Fluent user interface primarily consists of nine key components:
- The Ribbon – consists of tabs displaying the commands that are most relevant for each of the task areas in each application.
- Contextual Tabs – whenever a user selects or inserts an object, the Contextual Tabs for modifying that object (such as pictures, tables, text boxes and charts) appear in the Ribbon.
- The Office Button – replaces the File menu.
- Galleries – provide users with a visual set of formatting options to choose from when working on a document, spreadsheet, presentation or Access database.
- Live Preview – shows the potential results of a Gallery selection within the document before it is actually applied.
- Mini Toolbar – provides easy and efficient access to the most frequently used
text-formatting commands.
- Enhanced ScreenTips – appears as users move the mouse pointer over items in the Ribbon, showing the name of the feature, the keyboard shortcut and a brief description of what the feature is used for, and help links.
- Quick Access Toolbar – provides a single location for people to place the commands and features they use most frequently.
- KeyTips – appear in front of the Ribbon tabs with a single letter or combination of letters for users to type to activate the feature when users press the Alt key.
Microsoft Office Fluent user interface is implemented in Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, and Microsoft Office Access 2007, with partial implementation on Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.
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Entries (RSS)
November 21st, 2009 23:42
I don’t believe Microsoft had the user in mind when designing the Office 2007 user interface. It’s all about revenue. They had to come out with a new, very different, product to get people upgrading from Office 2003. The new user interface is less efficient than the old toolbar. But, gosh, it’s pretty.
Office 2007 is all about money. Why did they feel the need to come out with a new document format, and why did they essentially have to be forced into providing support for the Open Document Format? It’s about money, not the user. The user is someone to be tricked and manipulated into buying from Microsoft.
Look, Vista was a bust, but if you wanted to buy a new computer with XP you had to pay extra for the “downgrade”. So Microsoft gets to say they sold a Vista license and they get paid extra so that you can use their older software. If they cared about the user they would have apologized for Vista and not charged more to get XP instead of Vista. How much money did U.S. business waste on Vista and how much productivity is being lost while people try to learn and be efficient with Office 2007?
September 9th, 2009 18:23
After 2 years of using Office 2007, I can tell that I like some aspects of the last version.
But I agree with the general mood here: the Ribbon or Fluent User Interface is a complete failure. After all this time, I still cannot find the logic or added usability behind it.
Microsoft, get a grip, and get rid of it.
August 20th, 2009 22:49
[...] for Windows 7, also improved on video editing functions, has Ribbon style toolbar similar to Office 2007 Fluent ribbon interface, and supports Windows 7 Jump [...]
August 19th, 2009 04:03
Effluent is what I’m calling it. The only thing the Ribbon interface is good for is expanding billable hours, because it takes twice as long to create and format reports and documents. It was obviously designed for illiterates since it has a picture next to every command, which begs the question: do illiterate people need Office? I have used Office and Works since the 1980s and now they decide to make it look like some Fisher Price or Macintosh toy? I’ve been using the new software for weeks because of client specifications-I guess I’m glad they’re willing to pay me to figure out this idiotic and pointless UI change. It is frustrating as hell to try to do something I used to be able to do with one submenu and find I have to do five or six different submenus to do it. I would like to put the Office UI team through the gauntlet.
Oh and I doubly hate all the jokers who snigger and say “I love the new ribbon, you just have to get used to it, you’re the problem, it’s brilliant.” You all go through the gauntlet twice.
July 24th, 2009 10:59
I simply hate this toolbar/ribbon replacement.
It’s a waste of time, horribly disorganized and has the complete opposite effect on the user interface then what is described by Microsoft.
It uses far to much space. I don’t know why I need to see a 96×64 px image of a chart with both a label and description all the time.
Additionally you cannot relocate the stupid thing at all. So for example you place the toolbars you use on the left side (which I personally do because I perfere more vertical space) you cannot do it at all.
The simply fact they did not make this “optional” or customizable is insane. The entire development and planning group should be fired.
The ordering of the items is also retarded. Teh Top contains an “Area”, whihc then has “sub areas” which are labeled across the bottom for some reason, then the 3rd level is above with both a mixed vertical and horizontal ordering. Then most of these still end up with a Menu? Your eyes simply do not track thsi rediculas order naturally in the same tree like way of a normal menu.
Darren. (Developer, .Net Developer, I’m embarassed by office 2007)
November 10th, 2008 23:40
[...] access commands or items with much more easier Word 2007 has a new, intuitive user interface called Ribbon that can help you to create documents much quicker than you could in previous version of Word. By [...]
October 9th, 2008 11:52
MS are usually quite good at listening to customer feedback, so is there any word on a fix for this insanely annoying ribbon? 20 years of working with Excel and I am now made to look like a newbie everytime I try to find the simplest thing. Surely they could have a “Classic view” option like XP kept when they realised how irritated old hands were with the new “Mac-Clone” look.
First they scrap VB6 and relegate VBA then they destroy MS Office. What ARE they thinking?
July 14th, 2008 03:31
[...] lot of users feeling completely piss off with the new Office Fluent ribbon interface in Microsoft Office 2007, and prefer the classic user interface in Microsoft Office 2003. Beside, [...]
October 18th, 2007 08:00
I don’t know which Microsoft employees came up with the Ribbon idea but they should be fired at once. It’s a hassle for both the users and the overworked support staff.
At work, my colleagues and I have to fend off angry secretaries on a weekly basis. “When will you reinstall the old version (Office 2003)”, that’s the main request we’ve been receiving for the last months.
I can’t believe Microsoft designed an interface that’s a maze and takes up almost a third of the screen. It looks even worse on a laptop, you know, the ultra-light ones.
In order to install software like Classic Menu or Toolbar Toggle, we have to overcome the reluctance of a boss who believes that using Microsoft latest stunt is a sign of progress and that employees must adapt or perish.
October 8th, 2007 03:20
Office Fluent Ribbon should be renamed for the Office 14 release to “View our application our way, not your way”.
I’ve given up on Office 2007. The user interface is less than outstanding. I can’t change it. I don’t want to see what the change will do to my data or document as I hover over the button or formatting tab.
True, behind the UI Office appears to be better. But what use is a stronger system if the user can’t change how it s/he uses it?
I’m sure Microsoft ran the numbers and decided that the majority of users don’t change how buttons/or menus are used, but for the rest of us it is very dissappointing.
For the true “power users”, whipping up some XML to edit the Ribbon will be no sweat…but is that what it has come down to? For us middle of the road (technically speaking) users, where does that leave us? I don’t have the time to learn how to write code to make it the way that I like it.
Please write an add-in that will truly give me the ability to change the user interface to the 2003 format.
There are add ins that will display the basic menus, but you can’t mode the buttons around and add the ones that you use most to it.
Microsoft Office 14 Project Team, fix this!
Give me the option to go with a classic user interface that I can add and delete buttons for the commands that I use all the time!
July 11th, 2007 12:45
We totally empathize with your experience which is why we created ToolbarToogle.
ToolbarToggle is an Office 2007 Add-In utility that brings back the original 2003 classic menus and toolbars into Office 2007 (Word / Excel PowerPoint).
After downloading and installing the free trial at http://WWW.TOOLBARTOGGLE.COM, Office 2007 will display the original Office 2003 toolbars and menus with or without the “fluent” Office 2007 Ribbon. Bottom line – we not only bring back the toolbars but also the ability to float, dock, crate new and customize any items with your office application’s macros and auto text.
Lastly, you can save any toolbar changes on a per document / spreadsheet / presentation.
Would love to get your feedback, thanks.
July 10th, 2007 06:54
Hmmmm… this new ribbon in Office 2007 is supposed to make us more productive? We can find what we need more easily and quicker?
Well, I have been trying to get to grips with it for several weeks on a test server at work. Nothing fancy… just wanted to set the style of Heading 2 at the top of a simple paragraph. In Word 2000 and Word 2003, I just go up to the toolbar and select it.
In Word 2007… I don’t see it. So I move around the tabs in the ribbon… is it here? Nope… here? Nope…. in fact, I still have not found it. I can’t find a lot of the things I used to be able to get at.
I used to be able to build myself a custom toolbar that I could load with the commands I use often. I could tear it off and position it anywhere I like on the Word working area so it was right there when I needed it.
Microsoft now slaps me on the wrist and tells me they know better than I as to how I want to work. My custom toolbars no longer float where I need them. They get hidden away in the Add-Ins tab. Takes me more time to find them (when I need to take a break from looking for Heading 2).
And why call the first tab “Home”? Doesn’t tellme anything about the commands contained in there. How can making the user interface more obscure, frustrating, and difficult to use be an improvement?
I have Office 2003 on one computer at home, and it is likely the last version for which Microsoft will get any money from me. I will NOT shell out for Office 2007 or any later version unless they fix the ribbon bug (andI do consider it a bug because it renders the software much less usable). At the very least, give me the choice… let me use the menus and toolbars which I am comfortable with and can be productive with.