The development team promises that this new product is actually user friendly. (You know they say that every time, and every time it's not.) The team had noticed that "too many program features are too hard for many users to find." Their "overriding design goal for the new user interface" was "to make it easier for people to find and use the full range of features these applications provide."What they don't understand is that most people don't want the "full range of features". It takes too much time and committment for the average user to learn and use all the fancy bells and whistles. Unless you're a computer geek or you like to impress your boss and co-workers with your computer expertise (that makes you a computer nerd, by the way) you don't have a need or desire for that all of that fancy crap.
They have promised a "streamlined, uncluttered workspace that minimizes distraction and enables people to achieve the results they want more quickly and easily".
I saw pictures of the Beta version. They have replaced the toolbars and menus with something they call "The Ribbon." I would estimate that it takes up at least 1/8 of the page. On "The Ribbon" are tabs (similar to tabs found in an Excel workbook) which take the place of some menu items and there are tabs that only appear when needed. Those tabs take up at least 1/8 of the page from the side. So we've got at least 1/4 of the page taken up with handy dandy little tabs, buttons, and icons you won't know what to do with.
I had hoped that they eliminated all those annoying little pop-up thingees that were supposed to be helpful, but weren't - unless you wanted to take the time to learn how to use them, but the only thing I wanted to learn was how to make them go away. Well, the pop-ups aren't little anymore. I can't speak to their usefulness till I have seen them in action. Let's just hope their annoyance factor won't increase in proportion to the size.
No comments:
Post a Comment