The “Results-Oriented” User Interface
If you’re like most users, when you begin a letter or a report, the first thing you do is check whether you’ve ever written a letter or report like the one you are about to write. If you have written something similar, then you very likely will open it and use it as a starting point.
When my daughter needs a written excuse for school, rather than write a brand-new letter each time, I search my stock of documents for whatever I have that is closest to the current need.
If you don’t have a document to use as a starting point, then you check whether there’s an existing template in the Office application’s repertoire. Failing there, you might search online. Indeed, it’s not uncommon to come across questions in online communities or newsgroups asking if anyone has a particular type of template, e.g., “Does anyone have a template for a resignation letter?” I just love replying to that kind of request: Dear Meat for Brains Boss . . . but, I digress.
Knowing that most people don’t prefer to begin documents with a clean slate, so to speak, Microsoft has redesigned Office to give users what they want. The goal is to offer users a collection of results they are probably seeking, to save time and guesswork.
They have done this in a variety of ways. One of the most prominent ways is the expanded use of galleries of already formatted options. Coupled with this is something called Live Preview, which instantly shows the user the effect of a given option in the current document—not in a preview window!
Rather than focus on a confusing array of tools, the Ribbon instead shows a variety of finished document parts or building blocks. It then goes on to provide context-sensitive sets of effects—also tied to Live Preview. These are designed to help you sculpt those into, if not exactly what you want, then something close. The objective at each step is to help you achieve results quickly, rather than combing through myriad menus and toolbars to discover possibilities. If nothing else, the new interface eliminates several steps in what necessarily has been a process of trial and error.
In addition, with each result, Office 2007’s new context-sensitive Ribbon changes to show you additional tools that seem most likely appropriate for or relevant to the current document part that is selected. For example, if a picture is selected in Word, then the Format tab on the Ribbon displays context-sensitive Picture Tools, as shown in Figure 2-2.
Figure 2-2. When a picture is selected, the Format tab of the Ribbon displays context-sensitive Picture Tools; the result of the Picture Style gallery selection (Bevel Perspective, in this case) is previewed in the document.
With each action, the Office application displays a likely set of applicable tools on the Ribbon. As the mouse pointer moves over different gallery options, such as the picture styles shown here, the image in the actual document shows a Live Preview of the effect of that choice. As you navigate the Ribbon to additional formatting options and special effects, the Live Preview changes to reflect the currently selected choice, as shown in Figure 2-3.
Figure 2-3. Live Preview shows the result of the selected formatting or effect.
In addition to providing a Live Preview of many formatting options, Microsoft has also greatly enhanced and expanded the range of different effects and options. The result, optimally, is documents that look more polished and professional than was possible previously.