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From: GomerFackworth (is this unusual enough?) on 17 Jan 2010 10:59
Thank you Suzanne, once again. I did finally figure out the KWN issue after
some hours of searching, however I think you are missing the point of my
suggestion to Microsoft. The outline question is only one of many that
wastes my precious time that I have left on this planet.

First, this is posted as a Suggestion which I thought would go to MS not to
the forum.

My point is that they foist on the public a program that is absolutely
frustrating to use, and wastes millions of hours that could be spent
productively. So much for computers making life simple.

Why is Help so Unintuitive? What happened to the way it used to work? Even
in the days of Clipit, search came up with credible possibilities, not some
absurdities that have no relevance to the search keyword.

Why do popup boxes a) open up Help instead of just giving a definition as
they used to, and b) use terms that Help doesn't recognize?

Why do these forums have to be filled wilth hundreds of good people like you
working for free to repair the lost hair of millions of frustrated folks when
MS makes millions foisting a travesty of word processing on us because they
are the big gorilla?

Every time that MS comes out with a new product, one hopes that it is an
IMPROVEMENT on the old version. Instead, one is forced back into
kindergarten having to start over with new terminology and learn new ways of
dealing with the same issues?

This would not be a problem if we could still use the old versions that we
have grown to know and use efficiently, but MS then creates a new OS and the
old versions of programs don't work anymore. I have been working with
computers since they had tubes in them so I do have some sense about this
issue. I have a closet full of old programs that don't work anymore, even if
MS insists that they have "compatability modes". And I have some that I
still have to have 3 computers with different OSs on so I can work around
those issues. Of course, if I were rich, I could afford to upgrade all of
these programs to new versions each and every time MS changed.

What is it in the MS culture that makes them so user unfriendly? That was
my point.
From: Suzanne S. Barnhill on 17 Jan 2010 11:57
FWIW, MS does have "usability labs" in which testers use early versions of
the program, under observation. I have no idea how these users are selected,
but the story we were given was that beginning Word users generally found
the Ribbon easier to use, moderately experienced users found it no worse
than the menus, and only "power users" would be frustrated. It seems that
user reaction across the board has somewhat tempered this optimism. In
particular, MS underestimated the extent to which users want to customize
the UI (their CEIP results told them that users rarely change anything, and
they already knew that users *hated* adaptive menus), and Word 2010 will
allow for additional customization, though I'm disappointed that it will
still not allow users to design or use custom button faces even for the QAT
buttons (for which dynamic resizing is not an issue).

I don't think anyone would argue that Help hasn't gotten worse with every
subsequent version. Much of that is a result of the struggle to keep up with
new features, especially for RTM. This was especially critical in 2007, in
which everything was in a different place, so existing Help was largely
obsolete. But a great leap forward with Word 2007 is that Help can be
updated along with other features by periodic patches and service releases.
And the online assistance can be very helpful if you have time to watch a
demo video; my gripe is that the simple "About x" is always way down the
results list, far below the online help video.

Context-sensitive Help is another loss that we can lament till we're blue in
the face but should not expect to see restored, apparently. It is still
available for some features, however, and the more informative ScreenTips
for buttons are a step in the right direction as well.

The stated purpose of the Ribbon was to make features more "discoverable."
At the same time, many of them were reconfigured to make them easier for
"ordinary users" to take advantage of. Unfortunately, this results in cover
pages and TOCs that users can't figure out how to remove or edit, loss of
AutoComplete for vast libraries of AutoText entries (restored in 2010, thank
goodness), etc. Not to mention that, short of adding a button to the QAT,
many features are one or two more mouse clicks away than in previous
versions.

All of this is really an attempt to be user-friendly (these NGs are another
such gesture), but 2007 proves once again that no application can be all
things to all users.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"GomerFackworth (is this unusual enough?)"
<GomerFackworthisthisunusualenough(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:F44799CE-FC7E-49C3-9993-E86231BC139D(a)microsoft.com...
> Thank you Suzanne, once again. I did finally figure out the KWN issue
> after
> some hours of searching, however I think you are missing the point of my
> suggestion to Microsoft. The outline question is only one of many that
> wastes my precious time that I have left on this planet.
>
> First, this is posted as a Suggestion which I thought would go to MS not
> to
> the forum.
>
> My point is that they foist on the public a program that is absolutely
> frustrating to use, and wastes millions of hours that could be spent
> productively. So much for computers making life simple.
>
> Why is Help so Unintuitive? What happened to the way it used to work?
> Even
> in the days of Clipit, search came up with credible possibilities, not
> some
> absurdities that have no relevance to the search keyword.
>
> Why do popup boxes a) open up Help instead of just giving a definition as
> they used to, and b) use terms that Help doesn't recognize?
>
> Why do these forums have to be filled wilth hundreds of good people like
> you
> working for free to repair the lost hair of millions of frustrated folks
> when
> MS makes millions foisting a travesty of word processing on us because
> they
> are the big gorilla?
>
> Every time that MS comes out with a new product, one hopes that it is an
> IMPROVEMENT on the old version. Instead, one is forced back into
> kindergarten having to start over with new terminology and learn new ways
> of
> dealing with the same issues?
>
> This would not be a problem if we could still use the old versions that we
> have grown to know and use efficiently, but MS then creates a new OS and
> the
> old versions of programs don't work anymore. I have been working with
> computers since they had tubes in them so I do have some sense about this
> issue. I have a closet full of old programs that don't work anymore, even
> if
> MS insists that they have "compatability modes". And I have some that I
> still have to have 3 computers with different OSs on so I can work around
> those issues. Of course, if I were rich, I could afford to upgrade all of
> these programs to new versions each and every time MS changed.
>
> What is it in the MS culture that makes them so user unfriendly? That was
> my point.
>

From: JohnTheTemp on 18 Jan 2010 16:00
I share your frustration and every long-time user that I discussed the issue
with do too.

While, I agree with Suzanne that MS was interested in making things more
"discoverable", they should first have realized that things were already
reasonably discoverable. The original designers weren't oblivious to that
principle. Any new design would only be a fractional improvement.

But I think there was another -- secretive -- motive for the ribbon: Office
needed a radical overhaul -- driven by the old principle of "planned
obsolescence".

--
JohnTheTemp


"GomerFackworth (is this unusual enough?)" wrote:

> Thank you Suzanne, once again. I did finally figure out the KWN issue after
> some hours of searching, however I think you are missing the point of my
> suggestion to Microsoft. The outline question is only one of many that
> wastes my precious time that I have left on this planet.
>
> First, this is posted as a Suggestion which I thought would go to MS not to
> the forum.
>
> My point is that they foist on the public a program that is absolutely
> frustrating to use, and wastes millions of hours that could be spent
> productively. So much for computers making life simple.
>
> Why is Help so Unintuitive? What happened to the way it used to work? Even
> in the days of Clipit, search came up with credible possibilities, not some
> absurdities that have no relevance to the search keyword.
>
> Why do popup boxes a) open up Help instead of just giving a definition as
> they used to, and b) use terms that Help doesn't recognize?
>
> Why do these forums have to be filled wilth hundreds of good people like you
> working for free to repair the lost hair of millions of frustrated folks when
> MS makes millions foisting a travesty of word processing on us because they
> are the big gorilla?
>
> Every time that MS comes out with a new product, one hopes that it is an
> IMPROVEMENT on the old version. Instead, one is forced back into
> kindergarten having to start over with new terminology and learn new ways of
> dealing with the same issues?
>
> This would not be a problem if we could still use the old versions that we
> have grown to know and use efficiently, but MS then creates a new OS and the
> old versions of programs don't work anymore. I have been working with
> computers since they had tubes in them so I do have some sense about this
> issue. I have a closet full of old programs that don't work anymore, even if
> MS insists that they have "compatability modes". And I have some that I
> still have to have 3 computers with different OSs on so I can work around
> those issues. Of course, if I were rich, I could afford to upgrade all of
> these programs to new versions each and every time MS changed.
>
> What is it in the MS culture that makes them so user unfriendly? That was
> my point.
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