All About Access

As someone who teaches technology classes for users who are blind or visually impaired, I always try to get my hands on the beta versions of products so that I can familiarize myself with them as a sighted user before tossing the screen access software into the mix. As such, I’ve switched over to Office 2007 for all of my work-related tasks: Outlook for email, calendar, and tasks; Word for writing; Excel for maintaining my grade book; and PowerPoint for creating presentations. It’s been, well, interesting… in a “May you live in interesting times” sorta way….

At the heart of the adventure is ribbons. What is a ribbon, you ask? Well, picture the menu bar and its menus that we’ve all come to know and love. Now erase that picture from your mind — and if you were picturing any tool bars, get rid of them too — because with the exception of the main Outlook window, those are things of the past. Gone. Fini. In their place is the ribbon. The ribbon, as described by Microsoft is:

a new device that presents commands organized into a set of tabs. The tabs on the Ribbon display the commands that are most relevant for each of the task areas in Office Word 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, Office Excel 2007, or Office Access 2007. For example, Office Word 2007 has tabs for writing, inserting, page layout, working with references, doing mailings, and reviewing documents. Office Excel 2007 has a similar set of tabs that make sense for spreadsheet work: creating worksheets, inserting objects like charts and graphics, page layout, working with formulas, managing data, and reviewing. These tabs simplify accessing application features because they organize the commands in a way that corresponds directly to the tasks people perform in these applications.

That certainly sounds like a great idea: Simplification is a good thing. Although didn’t the menus on the menu bar already organize the commands in a way that corresponds directly to the tasks people perform in these applications? If I want to insert something, I look in the Insert menu; in order to format something, I look in the Format menu; if I need to create or modify a table, I look in the Table menu; and so on. At least I used to….

Regardless, while ribbons sound cool in theory, actually using them has been a bit different – in fact, my experience has been the complete opposite of what Microsoft intended, namely:

a user interface that makes it easier for people to get more out of Microsoft Office applications so they can deliver better results faster.

Maybe I am the proverbial old dog having a hard time with all of these new tricks, but for the life of me I cannot find what I’m looking for. It’s as if someone rearranged the contents of all of my drawers and cabinets — and rather than telling me where everything wound up said simply, “Don’t worry, you’ll find what you need because I’ve organized it for you.”

I certainly appreciate the thought, but at least before I knew where everything was; now I don’t. As a result, I’m not delivering better results faster; I’m delivering merely adequate results slower. Slower because I have to take the time to figure out where the things I need have wound up; merely adequate because I often conclude that I don’t have the time to go looking for those things and therefore blow off whatever nifty formatting I had intended to use. (Although, to be completely honest, if the formatting in question really matters, I switch over to StarOffice which I’ve been checking out ever since the ODF issue arose.)

I suspect the Office team must have seen old dogs like me coming because they did preserve a certain amount of menu functionality from Office 2003 (Thanks guys!!). Here’s how it works: Press the accelerator key from the 2003 menu bar, such as Alt A for Word’s Table menu. A tooltip-like object will appear telling you to “Continue typing the Office 2003 menu key sequence, or press Escape to Cancel.” At that point if you can remember that it’s, say, I for Insert and T for Table, you’re golden. Unfortunately if you can’t, you’re out of luck because there’s no actual menu on the screen in which you can arrow around. And Office doesn’t give you any clues. Sometimes when I can’t find things on the ribbon, I resort to playing Guess that Sequence:

Me: “I want to select my current table. Let’s see, how about Alt A, S for select?”

Word: Sort Text dialog.

Me: “That ain’t it. How about Alt A, E?”

Word: Beep.

Me: “L?”

Word: Beep.

Me: “C?”

Word: No response.

Me: Wooohooo, that means it’s still a valid sequence and no unwanted dialogs have appeared. Now I need Table. “T”

Word: Selects the table.

Me: Sighs with relief.

I wish the tooltip-like object would instead say “Continue typing the Office 2003 menu key sequence, press Escape to Cancel, or press ? if you can’t remember what the sequence is.” I’d be pressing that question mark a lot, but if doing so caused a little help window to appear providing a) what I was looking for and b) where I’d find it on the ribbon, I’d be much happier. I think ultimately what I am going to do is create an “Office 2007 for Old Dogs” guide with that very information and make it available via Carroll Tech – unless National Braille Press is already on it. I wonder what Anna Dresner is up to these days as this would be right up her alley.

I’m curious about what other folks think. If you’ve been using MS Office since dinosaurs roamed the planet, as I have, how is the switch going for you? From my perspective, the main advantage of the ribbon is that it looks pretty and inviting for the brand new, easily intimidated, (sighted) user.

The other day I was cleaning my office and came across a paperback dictionary. “How quaint,” I thought, “a relic from the distant past.” Quaint?!? The distant past?!? Wow… I might be in need of some help… Apparently I have joined the class of technology-dependent people for whom life itself will come to a sudden and devastating halt if the power goes out. But I’ve decided to live in denial. After all, how often does the power actually go out?

As a technology-dependent person, I am on a constant quest for better, faster ways to do, well, everything. And for that, Microsoft Outlook is a godsend. Sometimes, late at night, I consider that it may also be a sinister plot on the part of Bill Gates to take over the universe. (more…)