More Than Just a Pretty Face!
The User Interface of Microsoft® Office 2007
Those comfortable with the Office 2003 user interface may be wondering why there is a need to overhaul the software for Office 2007. Microsoft explains that the 2003 software had gotten so crammed with features over time that the trusty toolbar was no longer a manageable way to navigate the software. While the Word 1.0 toolbar housed 100 commands, Word 2007 will contain over 1,500 commands!
The new user interface is designed to make those commands more accessible so that the average user of the software can easily become a power user. Primped, primed, and promoted aggressively, Microsoft Office 2007 is about to make its debut. If you were one of the many who thought Microsoft Office 2003 was just a superficial nip-tuck improvement on the Microsoft Office 2000 user interface, get ready for an extreme makeover.
The user interface of Microsoft Office 2007 will truly transform the way we work with the core applications, increase productivity, and allow even novice users to create impressive, professional-looking documents.
Ribbons
The Ribbons in Word 2007, Excel 2007,
and PowerPoint 2007.
At the heart of the Office 2007 user interface is the Ribbon, a set of tabs where all of the features and functionality of the software live. The Ribbon replaces the toolbars and task panes with which we are accustomed to working and is organized differently for each application. For instance, the Ribbon in Word 2007 presents tools commonly used in writing documents, while the Ribbon in Excel 2007 is organized around tools used for spreadsheets such as charts and graphs, formulas, managing data, and reviewing.
In the past even simple tasks, such as changing the margins on a document, required multiple steps and the use of dialog boxes. Now, these can be performed right in the Ribbon, minimizing steps and saving time.
Galleries
A wide variety of document themes
are available in this Gallery in
Word 2007.
We will all turn into design pros with the new Galleries feature of Office 2007, which allows us to produce professional-looking documents in an instant. Galleries provide a variety of visual options for documents or the objects and images within them. Depending on the task being performed, galleries can appear in drop-down menus or in the Ribbon itself.
Live Preview
Live Preview is one feature of Office 2007 that certainly generates “ooohs” and “ahhhs” when demonstrated. Now, instead of finding the perfect font or formatting of a document through trial and error, you can instantly preview how your document will appear as you move your pointer over different fonts or visual options in a gallery. Most of the Galleries in Office 2007 are enabled by Live Preview, thereby streamlining the previously time-consuming process of formatting documents.
Contextual Tabs
Contextual tabs are a new feature that makes it easier to edit certain types of objects. When an object is selected, a series of contextual tabs appears alongside the main tabs in the Ribbon. For example, when a chart is selected in Excel, particular commands for editing and formatting charts are presented in the Ribbon. When the chart is no longer being edited, the corresponding tabs go away.
Other Convenient Features
Office 2007 also contains several other convenient features that will make the software easier for beginners to use and that will make commonly-used features easier to access. The round Office button, located in the upper left corner of the screen provides easy access to the commands used to perform an action on your document, such as Save, Print, and Open.
Tool tips have now been enhanced to identify not only the name of the tool, but also a description and picture of the tool, if applicable. There is additionally a direct link to the Help topics for tools.
The top of the window of each application has space devoted to a Quick Access Toolbar that users can easily customize to include their most frequently used commands.
When text is selected in a document, a miniature toolbar appears next to the pointer. The Mini Toolbar contains buttons for the most commonly used formatting commands for a block of text, allowing the user to do things like bold text without traveling all the way up the screen to the ribbon.
With Microsoft’s redesigned user interface bringing dramatic changes to the way we work with the software, educators are beginning to speculate about how it will impact the way that the Introductory course is taught. Many predict that the software’s ease of use will mean that students can be taught more skills over the course of a semester, and will leave the Intro course with more software skills than ever before.
For those concerned about the leap to Office 2007, be prepared for a surprisingly short learning curve. Microsoft says that its extensive usability studies have shown that the Office 2007 user interface is incredibly intuitive and easy to adjust to. That’s good news for those of us who are looking forward to taking advantage of all its exciting features.
Resources:
Get the scoop on Course Technology’s courseware for Office 2007 at: www.course.com/office.
Microsoft Office 2007 Preview Site: http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx.