Forum Discussion
Outlook 365 Ribbon, etc
What seems to be missing more than anything is a set of testable requirements for a good UI:
- Intuitive / Low learning curve (all users)
- Readable (average user)
- Accessible (special needs readable)
- Efficient (ordinary user)
- Customizable (power user)
- Aesthetic (artsy user)
It seems Microsoft catered to the Aesthetic users for "Fresh icon" updates and another recent Ribbon update, while ignoring all the others. Learning curve and efficient would compete for priority in a good update, while all the others should be verboten in every update.
Many on the thread are making mention of "get over it, that's the price of newness". I don't buy that. Others are saying "I hate the new icons". I don't buy that either. What we need is to tell Microsoft in detail what our needs are, in non-emotional terms.
The Quick Access toolbar is basically required for efficiency by me, because the ribbon changes often enough that I don't want to deal with the recurring learning curve of the constantly changing drama of the (non-)standard Ribbon interface. Even at that, the icon art changes enough that from time to time I open Office and can't read my own custom Quick Access toolbar.
Microsoft throws away every other major release of Windows because they don't do good testing to actual user Use Cases. They now have a way with Office 365 subscription processes to ensure everybody is stuck with every crap release, and the only way out is 3rd party...
I highly prize my classic Office 2007 software install. It does everything I want it to and it doesn't kill me with unsolicited updates that force a new learning curve. I use 365 at work because that's what I get... I can get it free at home but don't. Meanwhile, I am constantly upgrading to the latest versions of almost all other software because others respect the user experience far more deeply than it seems Microsoft does.
Sincerely,
-VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER
You are kind and polite person. I appreciate that. I am neither kind nor polite, but can be when I have to. I don't have to, but I want to back you up.
I look it through effectiveness. I am seasoned IT pro and enthusiast, and ex-MCSE and who knows what. I like computers for efficiency. And modern GUI is - utter crap - regarding that. I have to use mouse and aim things on the screen which are almost always all over the screen, click left, click right, look down, press Space, **bleep**, Alt-<key>, **bleep** doesn't work, where is the button, what is this giant thing covering 25% of dialog window, oh, that is the button, ...
This web GUI is awful. It is adjusted to clickety-click generation that is used to have one hand on mouse and other is for scratching genitals and randomly picking some snack, for hours. It is generated by new generation programmers, as someone wrote - "High maintenance, low output" - developers who would die of starvation without copy/pasting totally unchecked and unsecure code from Stackoverflow.
"MMC-style" consoles were The Thing. Fast, eficient, adjusted to both keyboard-people and mouse people, you had everything logical grouped on screen, ...
But hey, it progress.. actually - it is not. I use computers close to 40 years. This crap is getting more and more useless, partially because of total incompetence to protect data, but also because developers are not developers, they are biochemists, or space-engineers, or sewage-cleaners turned to programmers after 6 week free course on Coursera. And they turned to programmers because sallary is great. Passion? Zero points.
Edit: letters
