1. +
The Ribbon:
Organizing commands
Virginia Cagwin

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?

3. +
YES!

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?

5. +

6. +
The History
2003’s release

7. +

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

11. +
Fitts’ Law

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

13. +
Anatomy of the Ribbon

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

15. +
They all live on the
Word 2003 Tools menu

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.

17. +
Center Common Controls

18. +
Uniformity
Correct Incorrect

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

22. +
Always Start on the Home Tab

23. +
Don’t Duplicate Functions

24. +
Scale Ribbon

25. +
If You Can Only Do 5 Things

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