Ribbons and Pearls

The ribbon. Reminds me of the Nexus on Star Trek Generations. The ribbon in the new Office 2007 isn’t quite as cool as the one on Star Trek, but it’s a big improvement over the old interface. I tried the new Office 2007 suite several months ago as a trial download and fell in love with it. I have a licensed copy now and I wouldn’t go back for anything. Some people say that it doesn’t offer anything new. Oh, but it does. The interface alone is easier to work with than the previous version. You will have a learning curve since everything is in a different spot than the previous versions, but it’s worth it. I like how it dynamically changes to fit what you are doing. Typing text? Then you have the ribbon with the text functions. Working with a picture? The ribbon changes to the picture ribbon. Instead of hunting through menus you have your functions at your fingertips…er, mousetips. You can even preview what something will look like in your document before you actually choose that setting. For instance, if you want to insert a table you can choose from a variety of preconfigured visual designs. By hovering over the design, the table will dynamically change in your document. It won’t become permanent until you actually click on the design. There is also a free add-in available from the MS website that will allow you to save your documents as PDF’s. How handy is that?!

Some people I’ve talked to don’t like the change. We’d still be stuck in the DOS days if someone hadn’t decided to change interfaces. Besides that without change life would be boring. :) I know users don’t like their world turned upside down when they finally got the hang of something, but change can be good. So get used to it…the ribbon will be the next step in interfaces for MS Office. It won’t hold you in a moment in time like the Nexus, but it will make your life a bit easier.

To try a free trial of the Office 2007 suite, click here.