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The Ribbon:Organizing commands

Virginia Cagwin

+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?

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YES!

+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?

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+The History

2003’s release

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+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

+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 tracked352 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

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Quiz

What do you think the top 5 commands are in Word 2003? Paste Save Copy Undo Bold

Change shape to lightning bolt

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Fitts’ Law

+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 targetD = distance between hand and targetS = size of target

+Anatomy of the Ribbon

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Quiz

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 Merge the contents of multiple

documents Start a web conference Tweak AutoCorrect settings

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They all live on the Word 2003 Tools menu

+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.

+Center Common Controls

+Uniformity

Correct Incorrect

+Application Button (The Jewel)

Use the following standard Application menu commands when appropriate:

New, Open, Save, Print

+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.

+Pitfalls to Avoid

Avoid generic tab and group names

Avoid overly specific tab and group names

Avoid multiple paths to the same command

+Always Start on the Home Tab

+Don’t Duplicate Functions

+Scale Ribbon

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If You Can Only Do 5 Things

+ Don't underestimate the challenge of creating an effective ribbon.

And don't take for granted that using a ribbon automatically makes your program better.

If You Can Only Do 5 Things

#1

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If You Can Only Do 5 Things

Make the commands discoverable. Users should be able to determine quickly and confidently which tab has the command they are looking for, and rarely choose the wrong tab.

#2

+ Make the commands self-explanatory. Users should understand the effect of a command from its label, icon, tooltip and preview.

If You Can Only Do 5 Things

#3

+ Make using the commands efficient

If You Can Only Do 5 Things

#4

+ Users should spend most of their time on the Home tab. 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

#5