IYHO

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
ps.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
...
Granted, for casual users, they really only have the QAT to
customise, maybe a tear-off QAT would help them.

Or maybe allow multiple QATs and FTSUHOI call them ToolBars or
CommandBars.

I really like the feature of dragging custom controls onto the QAT
and they just work!

As opposed to dragging built-in commands to the old command bars in
Excel 97 through 2003? What didn't work for you?

On usability, the quickest way around Excel is keyboard and *most*
of the old keyboard settings still work.
...

Excel 2007 even includes Lotus transition navigation keys even though
it can no longer open Lotus files. Consistency of vision wasn't high
on the Excel development team's priority list.

. . . XL4 had two toolbars, 2003 had 32! Something had to change
...

Why?

Many of those toolbars only appeared in specific contexts. And one
could let them float or dock them where one preferred as opposed to
the new regime in which they're all stuffed into the ribbon or the
QAT.

There's too much choice in English spelling, and since there are more
American English speakers, why not let the US DOE promulgate how
English words should be spelled in the UK? Our spellings are generally
shorter, so more efficient.

Is there no value to choice or variety?

The ribbon as a new menu is one thing. XL5 got a new menu (though it
included an alternative XL4 menu as an option), so XL12 getting a new
menu (ribbon set to autocollapse) is a pain, but nothing new.

Now the fact that the file and printing commands aren't in the ribbon
but in the oversized Office icon is a major inconsistency with no
apparent logical explanation, and the fact that the new settings
dialog involves scrolling is a huge step BACKWARDS in usability are
mere warts on the V1.0 visage.

But the elimination of floating toolbars/toolbars docked on the left,
right or bottom sides of the application window as the user sees fit
is an outright reduction in functionality. The Big Brother Knows Best
design paradigm.