MS GUI redesign mania
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I don't understand why MS redesign/re-architecture their products GUI all the time (this includes new MSDN and MS office 2007 too - very inconvenient GUIs in my opinion). We are becoming use to some design/architecture but in the subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style. Hey, this attitude should be stopped - what about just improving :suss:?
The redesign of the GUI was prompted by the vast majority of feature requests being for features that they had already implemented. The idea was to try and make it more intuitive - so, if you were editing a table and you wanted to insert a row, the table context menus are supposed to make things more obvious. To be honest - for the most part I do like the new design. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I find that I can do things as quickly now as I used to (and in some cases quicker). Some of the features like the gallery are a definite improvement, and other features do feel like they need a little bit more work.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Partially for the same reason that washing powder is always "New and improved".
Ryan Roberts wrote:
Partially for the same reason that washing powder is always "New and improved".
And yet it can't be both: it's either 'new' or it's 'improved'. :-)
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I don't understand why MS redesign/re-architecture their products GUI all the time (this includes new MSDN and MS office 2007 too - very inconvenient GUIs in my opinion). We are becoming use to some design/architecture but in the subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style. Hey, this attitude should be stopped - what about just improving :suss:?
It is like the car business. You can't sell a new car with old clothes. People need to "see" the different before they feel it is worth it. Same as the whole feature-list count war. More features != better.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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I don't understand why MS redesign/re-architecture their products GUI all the time (this includes new MSDN and MS office 2007 too - very inconvenient GUIs in my opinion). We are becoming use to some design/architecture but in the subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style. Hey, this attitude should be stopped - what about just improving :suss:?
Albert Jann wrote:
he subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style
I think that might be the source of much consternation. In general I like using software written by programmers. I'm adeveloper, so I think like one, so software created by a like minded fellow is generally pretty easy to use. Give that same UI to a landscape architect, and they would probably not be too happy about it. This is all speculation, but the UI's are probably no longer being designed by programmers, but in recent history being designed by actual deisgners, and UI focus groups, and HIC specialists. Office's target audience is office profressionals, but an unfortunately huge and gigantic user base using previous versions of office. Office hasn't had a real UI change since Office 97 (probably earlier). Toolbars have been tweaked, a side bar got added in Office 2003, but in over 10 years, it is still the same UI. Perhaps after all the design effort that went in to the ribbon, they found users had a much lower learning curve, or after a short period of retraining, existing users were 5% more efficient. Who knows? One thing I do know is a drastic UI change every 5 to 10 years I think is perfectly okay. Heck every year, which is lightning for Microsoft, would be manageable. And yes, I like the new ribbon :) It reminds me of Maya's interface. - Phil
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I don't understand why MS redesign/re-architecture their products GUI all the time (this includes new MSDN and MS office 2007 too - very inconvenient GUIs in my opinion). We are becoming use to some design/architecture but in the subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style. Hey, this attitude should be stopped - what about just improving :suss:?
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Ryan Roberts wrote:
Partially for the same reason that washing powder is always "New and improved".
And yet it can't be both: it's either 'new' or it's 'improved'. :-)
[let's see how many of you old folks get this reference] New Shimmer! It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping!
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL -
The redesign of the GUI was prompted by the vast majority of feature requests being for features that they had already implemented. The idea was to try and make it more intuitive - so, if you were editing a table and you wanted to insert a row, the table context menus are supposed to make things more obvious. To be honest - for the most part I do like the new design. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I find that I can do things as quickly now as I used to (and in some cases quicker). Some of the features like the gallery are a definite improvement, and other features do feel like they need a little bit more work.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O`Hanlon wrote:
other features do feel like they need a little bit more work.
Well, Pete, I'm sure Microsoft will be happy to oblige you with Office 2010 -the latest and greatest not-for-free service pack to the Office System :)
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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Albert Jann wrote:
he subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style
I think that might be the source of much consternation. In general I like using software written by programmers. I'm adeveloper, so I think like one, so software created by a like minded fellow is generally pretty easy to use. Give that same UI to a landscape architect, and they would probably not be too happy about it. This is all speculation, but the UI's are probably no longer being designed by programmers, but in recent history being designed by actual deisgners, and UI focus groups, and HIC specialists. Office's target audience is office profressionals, but an unfortunately huge and gigantic user base using previous versions of office. Office hasn't had a real UI change since Office 97 (probably earlier). Toolbars have been tweaked, a side bar got added in Office 2003, but in over 10 years, it is still the same UI. Perhaps after all the design effort that went in to the ribbon, they found users had a much lower learning curve, or after a short period of retraining, existing users were 5% more efficient. Who knows? One thing I do know is a drastic UI change every 5 to 10 years I think is perfectly okay. Heck every year, which is lightning for Microsoft, would be manageable. And yes, I like the new ribbon :) It reminds me of Maya's interface. - Phil
Phil Martin... wrote:
It reminds me of Maya's interface
Now if only it had the space activated hotbox and shelves.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Pete O`Hanlon wrote:
other features do feel like they need a little bit more work.
Well, Pete, I'm sure Microsoft will be happy to oblige you with Office 2010 -the latest and greatest not-for-free service pack to the Office System :)
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
martin_hughes wrote:
Well, Pete, I'm sure Microsoft will be happy to oblige you with Office 2010 -the latest and greatest not-for-free service pack to the Office System
Aahh yes. However, as I get it through the MSDN anyway, I'm not that upset.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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martin_hughes wrote:
Well, Pete, I'm sure Microsoft will be happy to oblige you with Office 2010 -the latest and greatest not-for-free service pack to the Office System
Aahh yes. However, as I get it through the MSDN anyway, I'm not that upset.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Well, Pete, I'm sure Microsoft will be happy to oblige you with the all new MSDN Upset Guaranteed Edition coming to a subscription service near you soon! :)
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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Phil Martin... wrote:
It reminds me of Maya's interface
Now if only it had the space activated hotbox and shelves.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Now the hotbox would be great, and other marking menus. But the shelves is what the ribbon reminds me the most of. Each group is similar to a shelf. It isn't the same I know, just in the same vein. Sigh, I miss Maya. - Phil
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Phil Martin... wrote:
It reminds me of Maya's interface
Now if only it had the space activated hotbox and shelves.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O`Hanlon wrote:
Now if only it had the space activated hotbox and shelves.
That's not what I use Maya for... ;P
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Well, Pete, I'm sure Microsoft will be happy to oblige you with the all new MSDN Upset Guaranteed Edition coming to a subscription service near you soon! :)
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow? User:Errr...ummm....no. Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards? User: Oh yes, I see it now! -Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
martin_hughes wrote:
MSDN Upset Guaranteed Edition
I get that one. It's what happened when they downgraded my Visual Studio license to Professional.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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I don't understand why MS redesign/re-architecture their products GUI all the time (this includes new MSDN and MS office 2007 too - very inconvenient GUIs in my opinion). We are becoming use to some design/architecture but in the subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style. Hey, this attitude should be stopped - what about just improving :suss:?
And you forgot to mention Vista... It is a horrendous mess UI-wise with its "improved" dialog boxes that make you stop and stare whilst performing the most routine of tasks, such as file copy or save Roswell
"Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
Antonio VillaRaigosa
City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA -
I don't understand why MS redesign/re-architecture their products GUI all the time (this includes new MSDN and MS office 2007 too - very inconvenient GUIs in my opinion). We are becoming use to some design/architecture but in the subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style. Hey, this attitude should be stopped - what about just improving :suss:?
I saw this video of some Microsoft guy demo'ing the new UI, and it definitely sold me. It seemed so much slicker and intuitive. Then I actually tried using it. Marc
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And you forgot to mention Vista... It is a horrendous mess UI-wise with its "improved" dialog boxes that make you stop and stare whilst performing the most routine of tasks, such as file copy or save Roswell
"Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
Antonio VillaRaigosa
City Mayor, Los Angeles, CAYeah, waiting for it to say how long it will take and then watch it finish before it can figure it out. :doh:
This blanket smells like ham
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I don't understand why MS redesign/re-architecture their products GUI all the time (this includes new MSDN and MS office 2007 too - very inconvenient GUIs in my opinion). We are becoming use to some design/architecture but in the subsequent version MS right away change it to some MS sick minded programmers mind/style. Hey, this attitude should be stopped - what about just improving :suss:?
I was thinking about this sort of thing just last night on my Vista box, wondering why they'd bother to put out a new OS that's really little more than eye candy (and security annoyances). I think in terms of Windows that they're trying to recreate the magical moment of Windows 95, when people stood in line all night long to get a copy. There hasn't been that kind of excitement about Windows ever since. Given that 95 was a major visual overhaul, I suspect they think that eye candy is what created the excitement, and they've been on that path ever since. In fact, beyond the visuals, there was greatly enhanced functionality in 95 compared to Windows 3.1, even in the UI. I used to tell people, "Whatever you want to do, just click the right mouse button." We take it for granted now, but that was in fact a signficant improvement. And of course, there's a long list of other improvements in 95 that were actually useful instead of merely pretty. And people stood in line. Maybe "it's all been done" and Windows / Office doesn't really have much room left to grow. Or maybe people are obsessed with eye candy because they think it was the reason for the Windows 95 phenom. Either way, compare the "excitement" over Office 2007 and / or Vista to days gone by and it's clear that MS understands their customers less and less with each new release.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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[let's see how many of you old folks get this reference] New Shimmer! It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping!
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTLYou mean Saturday Night Live[^]? Season 1, episode 9 - Aired January 10, 1976. Yes, I did know that it was SNL. I just needed Google to get the precise details.
Kelly Herald Software Developer