First look: Microsoft Office 2013

I still don't see much really new from Off2010. The question about SDI and MDI is key, after all these years I cannot understand why there is such a difference between the components of Office. I wonder whether Recent Documents will improve as often it does not show all recent documents. The small and unlabelled and often obscure icons used in the Ribbon seem no better, the ribbon I find takes up too much screen for having it constantly on display. I bet that on a smaller screen tablet that will be even more so.

As for all Caps for the menu items - and coloured menus - I don't see the benefit and certainly will not be consistent across the whole platform. I wonder if they have improved the Zoom features in PowerPoint - like the Zoom control for the outline window to be consistent with the main display zoom control; like identical table controls in PowerPoint as in Word, etc. And please, please can we make Visio more consistent!!!

In Office 2010, Word is a single document interface while Excel is a multi document interface. Did this carry through to 2013 or did they introduce more consistency? Single is nice for dual monitors when you want to do a side-by-side comparison because you can more easily maximize both windows. Multi is nice because it reduces clutter. I think It would be optimum if you could choose, just like you can with tabs in current internet browsers. Implementing tabs would greatly enhance an MDI. You could more easily see what files you have open and quickly select the tab to move between them. How about if you could tear off a tab and turn it into an SDI or drag and drop to return it to an MDI? Wouldn't that be awesome! If that capability was introduced into Office 2013, I'd consider an upgrade.

Subject says it all . . . I have no logical reason to upgrade.

Addintools is almost there, but still misses my most crucial UI feature, customization. For all of Office 2003's faults, it has robust customization. Create your own toolbars, populate toolbar buttons with any command / macro / style / font / control / whatever, and customize the graphics on the buttons as desired.

For example, on my widescreen monitor, I keep my Word toolbars at a short two rows high (very efficient on real estate), but I have more than 160 buttons, and there's still room for another couple dozen.

I have single-click access to every command, font, and style that I might use frequently, or even infrequently, along with macros galore. All of them are in plain sight all the time and showing all their status information all the time. Compare with The Ribbon, where, if I am using commands on the Insert tab, I can't tell whether the current paragraph is formatted to "Keep with next" or not.

And compare with Addintools. Can I paste unformatted text easily? It's not easier than clicking my macro-linked Paste Unformatted toolbar button, which is right after the Paste button but has a green gradient clipboard instead of a yellow one.

By the way, my Excel toolbars and other Office 2003 apps have customized toolbars, too.

When Addintools includes customization capabilities, or if Microsoft provides an interface that I can select to be either The Ribbon OR toolbars & menus, I'll make the change to 2010. But not to 2013 with its goofy licensing.

I too lamented the loss of the toolbars, especially the ability to create toolbars, which I used for programs from time to time. Office 2010 is better than 2007 in the sense that it allows you to customize the ribbon, but it's just not the same.

At the risk of sounding like a commercial for software, seeing that I've already promoted another one of their products below (Office Tab), have you seen this add-in that brings back the toolbars to Office?

http://www.addintools.com/index.html

I have not tried it, so I cannot give my opinion on it, but you can download it and trial it for free for 15 days. After that, it's $29.50 to buy (volume licensing available). There is a version for 2007 and 2010 and beyond. While you are there, check out Office Tab! I'd highly recommend it. It makes Office behave how it should because it makes all of the apps have multi-document inerface through the use of tabs. So much better for quickly moving between open files.

Some novice-level users apparently like the ribbon, though it's hard for me to imagine why. If Microsoft had provided the option to use EITHER the (fully customizable) Office 2003 toolbars/menus interface or the bulky, illogical (and crippled) ribbon, I'd have purchased the 2007 and 2010 upgrades. So would have a huge number of other users. They are incredibly stupid at Microsoft, crippling the user interface and their sales at the same time. They should take a cue from another Washington State business: I can go with friends to Starbucks, and although I don't like coffee, they will sell me tea or hot chocolate, and everybody is happy.