2. +
Should I use the ribbon control?
Do users have trouble understanding the program's
commands?
Do users have trouble finding commands? Are users
requesting features that are already in the program?
4. +
Should I use the ribbon control?
Does the program benefit from making the content area of
the program as large as possible?
Do users tend to work in a specific area within a large
window in the program for long periods of time?
8. +
How did they approach this
problem?
Which commands do people use most?
How are commands commonly sequenced together?
Which commands are accessed via toolbar, mouse,
keyboard?
Where do people fail to find functionality they’re asking for
(in newsgroups, support calls, etc.)?
From Jensen Harris, Principal Group Program Mgr.,
Office User Experience Team, The Story of the
Ribbon presentation
9. +
Science behind the data
Over 3 billion data sessions collected from Office users
~2 million sessions per day
Over the last 90 days, we’ve tracked
352 million command bar clicks in Word
Track nearly 6000 individual data points
The team couldn’t have done this without data!
From Jensen Harris, Principal Group Program Mgr.,
Office User Experience Team, The Story of the
Ribbon presentation
10. + What do you think the top 5 commands
are in Word 2003?
Paste
Save
Copy
Undo
Bold
Change shape to lightning bolt
Quiz
12. +
Fitts’ Law
Time it takes to point at something, based on the size and
distance of the target object
T = k log2(D/S + 0.5), k ~ 100 msec.
T = time to move the hand to a target
D = distance between hand and target
S = size of target
14. + What Do These Have In Common?
Find out the current number of words
Turn on speech command and
control
Create a SharePoint Document
Workspace
Print Envelopes
Open the Visual Basic Editor
Turn on hyphenation
Quiz Merge the contents of multiple
documents
Start a web conference
Tweak AutoCorrect settings
16. +
Organizing Commands
Make a spreadsheet of all the commands in
your program.
Filter
out commands that belong on
standardized program tabs (Home, Insert,
View)
Filter out commands that belong on contextual
tabs.
Filter
out commands that belong in
standardized groups e.g. paste, copy, cut
Test the organization of your features.
19. +
Application Button (The Jewel)
Usethe following
standard Application
menu commands when
appropriate:
New, Open, Save, Print
20. +
Quick Access Toolbar
Use the Quick Access Toolbar to provide access to frequently
used commands. (save, print)
Always provide when using a ribbon.
Pre-populate with the frequently used commands in the
Application menu.
Provide a way to add commands.
21. +
Pitfalls to Avoid
Avoid generic tab and group names
Avoid overly specific tab and group names
Avoid multiple paths to the same command
26. + Don'tunderestimate the
challenge of creating an
effective ribbon.
#1 And don't take for granted
that using a ribbon
automatically makes your
program better.
If You Can Only Do
5 Things
27. + Make the commands
discoverable. Users should
be able to determine quickly
#2 and confidently which tab has
the command they are
looking for, and rarely choose
the wrong tab.
If You Can Only Do
5 Things
28. + Make the commands self-
explanatory. Users should
understand the effect of a
#3 command from its label, icon,
tooltip and preview.
If You Can Only Do
5 Things
29. + Make using the commands
efficient
#4
If You Can Only Do
5 Things
30. + Users should spend most of
their time on the Home tab.
#5
Users should rarely have to change
tabs during common tasks.
When the window is maximized and
users are on the correct tab, the most
frequently used commands have the
most visual emphasis and users can
invoke them with a single click. Users
can perform all other commands on
the tab with at most four clicks.
Users shouldn't have to open dialog
boxes to give commands and change
attributes in common tasks.
If You Can Only Do
5 Things