Microsoft Word 2007

Enhancements to Word 2007

The 2007 Microsoft Office system products will present a streamlined, uncluttered workspace that minimizes distraction and enables people to achieve the results they want more quickly and easily. The goal of the new Microsoft Office user interface (UI) is to make commands better organized and presented in a way that corresponds to how people work. Microsoft Office users will be able to easily find and utilize new advanced Microsoft Office capabilities. The streamlined look and dynamic results-oriented Galleries in the 2007 Microsoft Office system products will enable users to produce better results faster. An example of the new Word look and feel is shown in the screen shot below.  

Design Goals & Approach - In previous releases of Microsoft Office, people interacted with the applications through a system of menus, toolbars, task panes, and dialog boxes. While this system successfully provided access to a wide variety of features, it became increasingly challenging to add capabilities in a way that made it easy for people to take advantage of them. The overriding design goal for the new UI is to enable users to be more successful finding and using the advanced features of Microsoft Office. An additional important design goal was to preserve an uncluttered workspace that reduces distraction for users

Key Features - While the overall look of the redesigned applications is new, early testing indicates that users rapidly become accustomed to the new way these applications work. The ease with which people use the new interface is due to the simplicity of the new interface features:

1.      Command Tabs - The traditional menus and toolbars have been replaced by a set of Command Tabs. Presented graphically, Command Tabs display the commands that are most relevant for each of the task areas in Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or Access. For example, Word has Command Tabs for writing, inserting, page layout, working with references, doing mailings, and reviewing documents. Excel has a similar set of Command Tabs that make sense for spreadsheet work: creating worksheets, inserting objects like charts and graphics, page layout, working with formulas, managing data, and reviewing. These Command Tabs simplify accessing application features because they organize the commands in a way that corresponds directly to the tasks people perform in these applications.

 

 

2. Contextual Command Tabs - Certain sets of commands are only relevant when objects of a particular type are being edited. For example, the commands for editing a chart in Excel are not relevant until a chart appears in a spreadsheet and the user is focusing on modifying it. In current versions of Microsoft Office, these commands can be difficult to find or become elusive. In the next release of Excel, clicking on a chart causes a Contextual Command Tab to appear with commands that are relevant for chart editing right next to the other Command Tabs in Excel. These Contextual Command Tabs only appear when they are needed and make it much easier to find and use the commands needed for the operation at hand while making it easy to switch back to working on your document.

Contextual Command Tabs bring needed functionality to the user's attention at the most appropriate time.

3. Galleries - Galleries are at the heart of the redesigned applications. Galleries provide users with a set of clear results to choose from when working on their document, spreadsheet, presentation, or Access database. By presenting a simple set of potential results, rather than a complex dialog box with numerous options, the Galleries simplify the process of producing professional looking work. The traditional dialog box interfaces are still available for those wishing a greater degree of control over the result of the operation.

   

Galleries simplify many operations by presenting a set of results that users can simply "pick and click" to achieve the desired results.

4.      Live Preview is a new technology that shows the results of applying an editing or formatting change as the user moves the pointer over the results presented in a Gallery. This new, dynamic capability streamlines the process of laying out, editing, and formatting so users can create excellent results with less time and effort.

Top 5 Most-Used Commands in Microsoft Word

Just for fun, what would you say are the five most frequently used commands in Microsoft Word? According to Lead Programmer of Microsoft Office Jensen Harris, here they are:

1. Paste
2. Save
3. Copy
4. Undo
5. Bold

Harris goes on to say that together, these five commands account for around 32% of the total command use in Word 2003.  Paste itself accounts for more than 11% of all commands used, and has more than twice as much usage as the #2 entry on the list, Save. Paste is also far-and-away the number one command in Excel and PowerPoint, accounting for 15% and 12% of total command use, respectively. Beyond the top 10 commands or so, however, the curve flattens out considerably. 

Here's an example of where Microsoft used this data to help make design decisions regarding Office 2007.  Early on, Microsoft was toying with the idea of not having buttons for Cut/Copy/Paste in the Ribbon.  Everyone "knew" that people mostly used CTRL+X/C/V to do most clipboard actions (which was true.)  And that mouse users used the context menu to access these clipboard commands (which was also true.) What Microsoft didn't know until they analyzed the data was that even though so many people do use CTRL+V and do use "Paste" on the context menu, the toolbar button for Paste still gets clicked more than any other button.  The command is so incredibly popular that even though there are more efficient ways of using it, many people do prefer to click the toolbar button.

According to Harris, the data kept Microsoft from making a crucial mistake. Once Microsoft recognized the importance of the Paste toolbar button, it was promoted to the first big button on the left side of Word's first tab.

As trivia, the top "actions" performed in Word 2003 are: Cursor Right, Cursor Left, Cursor Down, Backspace, Cursor Up.  Even the last of these (Cursor Up) is done about 8 times more than Paste, so people are doing a lot of cursoring around in the document (as you'd expect.) 

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