What's wrong with the ribbon control?
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John C wrote:
You don't make great software by including endless configuration and customization opportunities, you make great software by taking the time to plan and design and test a great (as in as simple as possible) task oriented interface that takes away the need to even have all those customizations, then you enforce it strictly giving options only where there is absolutely no other way to accomplish the task at hand.
Isn't that the iPhone? And let's face it, it works, and people love it. (yes, I know the iPhone isn't software, but iOS is and so are all those thousands of apps that follow the strict guidelines defined and enforced by Apple)
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
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My problem with it is that, when the window width changes, some of the items move around, and look different. sometimes the text disappears to make room for more controls, or the controls get repositioned somehow so that more of them show up on the screen. although it seems that this would be good, because you have access to more of the controls in a smaller space, the problem is that they're harder to find. Visually, you look for certain controls on the screen because of the way they looked and where they are positions. When that changes, it's kind of like the controls in the cockpit of an airplane moving around on you. Things aren't where you'd expect to be, and it's confusing.
That is an *excellent* argument against the ribbon that I didn't know about before because I've yet to use an app that uses it heavily. I didn't know they did that. That is unforgivable from a UI perspective. Perhaps they bank on people normally working at a set resolution / size.
There is no failure only feedback
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Are you aware it's possible to customise the entries on the ribbon? Right Click > Customise Ribbon Oh, and
Member 3717204 wrote:
COMBERSUM
That would be 'cumbersome'. [/language-nit-pick] :)
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dawmail333 wrote:
Are you aware it's possible to customise the entries on the ribbon? Right Click > Customise Ribbon
- You can't customise the AddIn Ribbon Tab 2) You can't add an AddIn to an existing Ribbon. 3) I did mention they were Users not Developers.
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I get the impression that quite a few developers here are not impressed with the ribbon concept. If so, what's the main gripe with it? We use the DevExpress ribbon in our apps and it's relatively painless to use and easy to write code for. Perhaps there is a serious flaw with ribbon concepts but out-of-the-box it works, it looks quite nice so why are some folk upset with it?
I often used to add custom buttons to the toolbars in Office applications to make commands that are buried (or not at all) in the menus more accessible. In the old-style toolbars, you could add a button, give it an icon or copy and paste a button icon from another button in the toolbars. You could even edit your own icons. All this functionality is gone from the ribbons, and I miss it. :(
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I'm not a complete idiot;
bits of me are missing.
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I get the impression that quite a few developers here are not impressed with the ribbon concept. If so, what's the main gripe with it? We use the DevExpress ribbon in our apps and it's relatively painless to use and easy to write code for. Perhaps there is a serious flaw with ribbon concepts but out-of-the-box it works, it looks quite nice so why are some folk upset with it?
A part of the problem is the lack of layout standards. Most apps have different ribbons but do similar functions. File is gone, Home anyone? The extra File menu not on the ribbon and doing something crazy different has been disliked by many. More users and developers would accept it if MS resolved the File ribbon and gain some uniformity in organization.
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That is an *excellent* argument against the ribbon that I didn't know about before because I've yet to use an app that uses it heavily. I didn't know they did that. That is unforgivable from a UI perspective. Perhaps they bank on people normally working at a set resolution / size.
There is no failure only feedback
Yes, and for this reason, I instintively just maximize the window so things go where they're supposed to go. To make the best use of the ribbon control, stay in the same resolution / app frame width as much as possible.