How Microsoft Wrapped the "Ribbon" in a Bow
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User interface design is tough work. It's a little science, a dash of art and lots of guesswork--all of which Microsoft applied to Office 2007's "ribbon." |
Last week, I spoke with Julie Larson-Green, who joined Microsoft in 1993 and has worked on UI design for her career there. Larson-Green played a pivotal role in the development of the new Office UI, the main element in which is the ribbon. Now as corporate vice president for Windows Experience Program Management, she is responsible for taking some of the concepts introduced in Office 2007 and applying them to Windows.
Shifting Design Priorities
The process for revamping Office's look and feel started about the time version 2003 shipped three years ago. The Office team faced two ongoing problems: customers continually asking for features that had been in the software for years and upgrade resistance from perceptions that little substantially changed version after version.
Microsoft would have to rethink fundamental design concepts before looking to the UI as a solution to these two problems.
Consistency was "in the fabric of our team," Larson-Green said. For previous versions, consistency was the top design principle. Microsoft sought to create consistency across Office applications and maintain it version after version. While the Office UI evolved from its Windows 3.1 heritage, the basic design principles remained largely the same until version 2003.
Larson-Green was among the Office team members advocating change. Microsoft spent months and months conducting research and formulating concepts for a radically new UI. The design priority shifted from consistency to empowerment.
"We wanted people to have a sense of mastery" using Office "and feel confident that they could get the job done," Larson-Green said.
Microsoft found that the requests for existing features revealed fundamental frustrations with using Office. For example, in some previous Office versions, an image-editing tool bar pops up when a user inserts a picture into a Word document. In testing, Microsoft discovered that most people close the tool bar to get it out of the way and then become frustrated later on because they can't figure out how to edit the image. Similarly, users tend to insert a picture and then remove it because the placement dissatisfies them. They redo the same process of inserting and removing--kind of like hamsters running a wheel--over and over.
"The undo, undo [behavior] led us to prioritize [what to do] before you pick," Larson-Green said. As remedy, Microsoft developed the task-oriented Office 2007 ribbon, which visually represents many functions. In the case of image insertion, the software presents users with a visual list depicting placement and then applies the changes when picked.
Trial and Error
Microsoft developed the basic user design concepts before releasing beta software, and the feedback proved to be a crucial, developmental turning point. Microsoft gave early Office 2007 software to a handful of testers from Fortune 500 companies in the Seattle area. At the time, Office 2007 had the basic framework and concepts in place, but the ribbon was far from complete.
After completing five months of testing, "unanimously, they wanted to keep the beta," Larson-Green said. The early response convinced key executives the radical changes were in fact justified.
Some ideas that made sense in research, bombed in testing. For example, "cut, copy, paste is what everybody expects," Larson-Green said. But research showed that users are twice as likely to paste as either cut or copy. Microsoft reversed the order to "paste, copy, cut." Testers loathed the change, so Microsoft eventually reverted to the familiar order.
A Surprise Endorsement
Endorsement for the ribbon approach came from some unexpected Microsoft executives, and in one instance quite unusual fashion. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates praised the Office team for the many new Office 2007 features. But many of the features praised by Gates had been in previous versions, simply hidden away by the old file menu motif. The ribbon exposed them.
A few features had been there "since Office 97," Larson-Green said. Her team took great satisfaction in Gates' response, which to them showed the ribbon accomplished its task of empowerment, of unlocking hidden features.
Gates' response had other significance. He was one of the architects of Microsoft's file menu motif used in Office. Maybe it is fitting that the file menu's demise precedes Gates' forthcoming departure. They both represent an era that is fading away into Microsoft history.
Office 2007 isn't the only product to do away with the file menu. By default, Internet Explorer 7 hides the file menu, which when visible looks out of place in the design. Windows Vista is a lesser example. The traditional file menu is gone from file folders, replaced by icon menus. In Vista, the file menu has evolved into something else, rather than being replaced as with Office 2007.
No Turning Back
Microsoft also chose to replace another approach applied to Windows but absent in Office 2007.
"It's expected process that you have a classic mode," Larson-Green said. "I thought classic mode was Office 2003." The Office 2007 ribbon cannot be turned off. Microsoft has provided no switch for flipping back to the older Office UI. "I decided: Let's pull people forward," Larson-Green said.
The question now: How will Microsoft pull Windows forward? Larson-Green believes the process is underway by changes made to the Windows Vista UI. While Office and Windows look less alike than previous releases, "a lot of the same principles" apply to both products, she said.
Larson-Green is part of the new Windows vanguard moving with Steven Sinofsky from Office to Windows. Microsoft announced his transition to Windows leadership in March.
With the work on Windows Vista complete, its successor is already a work in planning. Larson-Green wouldn't yet discuss the future UI. But she acknowledged that many design concepts used in Office would find their way in Vista's successor.
Comments (20)
yay, my first first comment =P
but whats my comment...? lol
Posted by puppet | December 4, 2006 1:15 AM
Oh, god. Just don't make it the next Slashdot.
Recommended reading:
Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
,----[ Quote ]
| Let's take a closer look at the what is being offered as part of
| this "royalty free" deal from Microsoft....Not very open source
| friendly, is this? You can marry into the family and get
| protection from the Godfather, but you can't transfer this to
| anyone. They need to make their own accommodation with
| Microsoft. This makes me wonder about the Microsoft-funded
| ODF Add-in for Word that Clever Age and others are working
| on. This add-in does UI-level manipulations of the Office 2007
| ribbon. Are they covered under Microsoft's license program? Are
| their user's covered? What about anyone who takes the source code
| and modifies it and redistributes it?...This is very reminiscent
| of the original license on the Microsoft binary file formats,
| back in the days when the specifications were published on MSDN
| CD's...Interestingly in that case, once they achieved their goal
| of total market domination, Microsoft removed the file format
| documentation from MSDN and it was only available under a special
| license. They started open, in order to gain market domination,
| but once their goals were achieved, the openness ended. What
| prevents this from happening again?
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2006/11/beware-of-geeks-bearing-gifts.h
Posted by Roy Schestowitz | December 4, 2006 6:10 AM
@puppet: Oh, god. Just don't make it the next Slashdot.
Recommended reading:
Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
,----[ Quote ]
| Let's take a closer look at the what is being offered as part of
| this "royalty free" deal from Microsoft....Not very open source
| friendly, is this? You can marry into the family and get
| protection from the Godfather, but you can't transfer this to
| anyone. They need to make their own accommodation with
| Microsoft. This makes me wonder about the Microsoft-funded
| ODF Add-in for Word that Clever Age and others are working
| on. This add-in does UI-level manipulations of the Office 2007
| ribbon. Are they covered under Microsoft's license program? Are
| their user's covered? What about anyone who takes the source code
| and modifies it and redistributes it?...This is very reminiscent
| of the original license on the Microsoft binary file formats,
| back in the days when the specifications were published on MSDN
| CD's...Interestingly in that case, once they achieved their goal
| of total market domination, Microsoft removed the file format
| documentation from MSDN and it was only available under a special
| license. They started open, in order to gain market domination,
| but once their goals were achieved, the openness ended. What
| prevents this from happening again?
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2006/11/beware-of-geeks-bearing-gifts.h
Posted by Roy Schestowitz | December 4, 2006 6:11 AM
I am not a fan of the ribbon. It is dictatorial in a way the current menu and toolbar interface is not. Just because MS screwed up their menu structures is not sufficient reason for this change. I want flexibility in where and what I see on the screen.
If you take a good look at the Office ribbons you will also see that 70% to 80% of the ribbons and icons are devoted to format not content, even in Excel and Access. This is the PowerPoint effect taking hold of the entire suite. It is representative of the dumbing effect of using Microsoft applications.
I predict that MS will add user customization to the ribbon in Office 13 (2007 is 12) and charge us once again to get us back to where we are in Office 11.
Posted by Richard | December 4, 2006 6:30 AM
"I decided: Let's pull people forward," Larson-Green said.
Maybe users want software that allows them to work the way they want, and not how MS wants? MS isn't the only source of good ideas.
Posted by Gregg Wright | December 4, 2006 7:46 AM
I am a tech writer. I've made my money cranking out user manuals, operating procedures, and such for 20 plus years. The one thing I did not need and did not ask for is a major revision of the Office user interface. This blows chunks!
The time and effort it will take to re-educate the engineers (and other users) will be major. In addition, documents are produced to exacting standards (font, format, style). When MS changes Office, this means we have to re-learn to do the same thing all other again. This will not helps us get our documents out on time.
Take your ideas about empowerment and collaboration and use them in the kiddies applications. Please leave Office alone.
Posted by Just-a-drone | December 4, 2006 11:41 AM
I just can't get this.. why do people argue??? if you don't like do not upgrade??? why is this need to have the latest car? the latest PC gadget? the latest software? if you all like so much 2003.. KEEP it.. WHO IS FORCING YOU TO UPGRADE? 2003 will run in vista fine and they can coexist also. The only forcing way is that the new format is not compatible with older format although 2007 can save in older format. Either way, all you do is make a letter and print it. the printer prints no matter what program. so no one is forcing the upgrade on anyone.
I... prefer word perfect. It lets me do what i want it to do the way i want it to do.. how??? KEYSTROKES and they keep the keyboard additions in tact and its so much faster to make a document with keystrokes and not needing to pull away your hands to your mouse that its funny they didn't implement a better way like that.
what are the F-keys for?
Posted by Christian | December 4, 2006 12:10 PM
In my experience, majority of users would rather try out 10 different ways to do something, fail and then give up, instead of simply clicking Help.
Another thing that software doesn't do well is ACCURATE error reporting. "Access denied" is not accurate error reporting, yet it is very, very common in software today. I would prefer to see "The program 'Microsoft Word' has locked the file you are trying to access. Please close it there before attempting to open it again.". Maybe we'll see it in 10 years.
Posted by Brad Freeman | December 4, 2006 12:27 PM
Christian:
I don't get a vote on upgrading. I have to use what the company's IT departments pushes out.
Last year I had to migrate from Windows 2000 and Office XP to Windows XP and office 2003. I have no idea why. I didn't get any increase in my productivity or ease of use, but nonetheless it was done.
In addition, most large companies deliver documents online now. Rarely is printing out of hard copies used for delivery. Changes in way the documents display on the user's computer cause major headaches.
Posted by Just-a-drone | December 4, 2006 12:37 PM
It is about time UX is put at forward more and more in the design, this is where Apple is killing us, in the experience department.
However, they need to recruit more, we are overweight with software engineers in dev and test roles with very few UX people and design people. It would be interesting to see how Apple compares on this workforce percentage wise in the roles compared to us (Microsoft).
Posted by sefsdsd | December 4, 2006 1:33 PM
come on guys!...office 2007 is more realistic..we can just do want we Want....OK..No more confusing menus..just ribbons shows what should do, incase for pictures, just add style, shadows etc..
2007 is a Block buster HIT..Continue MS on your way...its good..
Posted by guruparan | December 4, 2006 2:21 PM
The title of your column was how Microsoft wrapped the "Ribbon" in a bow. May I remind you that a Bow is just a fancy knot? And that is what MS has done. Put a knot into my productivity! Yeeh-Gads! What a mess! I was just dunked into the Office 2007 experience and as far as I know I'm the only person who hasn't yet re-installed 2003. I am not a person resistant to change, but I am a person who needs to be productive. MS decided to make pretty, but what they did was make it pretty hard.
Yeah, in the past you used menus to find the things you wanted to do. If you knew it existed you searched the menus for it. But now the menus no longer exist so you look at pictures and try to figure out what the picture means.
Want an examples: New documents are now a three step process. Don't try inserting anything by pressing Ctrl-I because you have to have the exact sequence memorized from the past to do what you want. Now to insert lines I have to Rt-Clk on the header! I hate to break it to the Elites (sp?) but the process of removing my hands from a keyboard to a mouse increases a process by five seconds instead of just hitting the right keys on a keyboard.
Sheesh! Hey, Word Perfect, do you still exist? Will you take me back if I come to you on my knees? Pleeeaaasseee?????
Posted by FVK | March 30, 2007 10:54 AM
The title of your column was how Microsoft wrapped the "Ribbon" in a bow. May I remind you that a Bow is just a fancy knot? And that is what MS has done. Put a knot into my productivity! Yeeh-Gads! What a mess! I was just dunked into the Office 2007 experience and as far as I know I'm the only person who hasn't yet re-installed 2003. I am not a person resistant to change, but I am a person who needs to be productive. MS decided to make pretty, but what they did was make it pretty hard.
Yeah, in the past you used menus to find the things you wanted to do. If you knew it existed you searched the menus for it. But now the menus no longer exist so you look at pictures and try to figure out what the picture means.
Want an examples: New documents are now a three step process. Don't try inserting anything by pressing Ctrl-I because you have to have the exact sequence memorized from the past to do what you want. Now to insert lines I have to Rt-Clk on the header! I hate to break it to the Elites (sp?) but the process of removing my hands from a keyboard to a mouse increases a process by five seconds instead of just hitting the right keys on a keyboard.
Sheesh! Hey, Word Perfect, do you still exist? Will you take me back if I come to you on my knees? Pleeeaaasseee?????
Posted by FVK | March 30, 2007 10:54 AM
The title of your column was how Microsoft wrapped the "Ribbon" in a bow. May I remind you that a Bow is just a fancy knot? And that is what MS has done. Put a knot into my productivity! Yeeh-Gads! What a mess! I was just dunked into the Office 2007 experience and as far as I know I'm the only person who hasn't yet re-installed 2003. I am not a person resistant to change, but I am a person who needs to be productive. MS decided to make pretty, but what they did was make it pretty hard.
Yeah, in the past you used menus to find the things you wanted to do. If you knew it existed you searched the menus for it. But now the menus no longer exist so you look at pictures and try to figure out what the picture means.
Want an examples: New documents are now a three step process. Don't try inserting anything by pressing Ctrl-I because you have to have the exact sequence memorized from the past to do what you want. Now to insert lines I have to Rt-Clk on the header! I hate to break it to the Elites (sp?) but the process of removing my hands from a keyboard to a mouse increases a process by five seconds instead of just hitting the right keys on a keyboard.
Sheesh! Hey, Word Perfect, do you still exist? Will you take me back if I come to you on my knees? Pleeeaaasseee?????
Posted by FVK | March 30, 2007 10:55 AM
Many people felt the same way so our company has come up with an add-in that brings back the menus, and command/toolbars to Office 2007. There is no reason you can't use either or both the menus, toolbars and the Ribbon!
You can download the demo at http://www.toolbartoggle.com
ToolbarToggle brings back that familiar, customizable, Office 2003 interface into Office 2007 so people could still migrate to Office 2007 which is a great product.
Please check out our product ToolbarToggle which enables anyone to have a full working replica of the old menus, and commandbars with full customization features (macros, autotext, new toolbars) as well as floating and docking capabilities too!
Would love to get your feedback!
sales@toolbartoggle.com
Posted by Charles Steinhardt | April 22, 2007 12:42 PM
The ribbon blows. MS is adding so many clicks to processes that were simple and easy before. I tried to find out how to view Help, About, used to be 2 quick clicks from the Help menu. I had to use help to even find it! Now it's four clicks, if you can find it buried under 'Resources'. Why mess with something that works. I don't have the time to relearn yet another 'funky cool new' interface. I just want to do my job as quickly as I can. Not giving the option to revert back is asinine, some sort of bizarre power trip. And you can't avoid it if your company upgrades everyone.
Posted by Steve | August 27, 2007 7:48 PM
How is a standard menu confusing?!? And the new one isn't? I click Print, hidden at the top left, and it prints, no asking for print options that I want to set. I'm sure it's tucked away somewhere, but WHY should I have to spend valuable time searching for it. File Print DONE! That's quick and easy, and products that people spend money on are quick and easy, not a rubics cube of a 'pretty' interface that makes them scratch their heads and go back to Wordpad.
Posted by Steve | August 27, 2007 7:52 PM
Nice blog, hope to see more posts like this in the future
Posted by Replica Watches | September 27, 2007 2:15 AM
Acronym RIBBON
Real Idiocy By Bungling Obnoxious Nitwits
(leftovers from Ford Edsel Team
Posted by Mam'selle Hepzibah | November 27, 2007 9:56 AM
Are some of you guys serious?
The new UI is AWFUL. I can't find ANYTHING on it. Like others have said, I have no choice about downgrading to this absolute crap. The help system is no better!
Office '97 was fine and most "features" since have been ok, but not forced on you. Now, I have no choice but take a couple of hours to work out how to do somethin that I could do in 10 minutes.
Given the option, I'd jump ship to OpenOffice.org.
Posted by Paul | January 25, 2008 12:07 AM