Re: [libreoffice-users] CNET is claiming the best free MSO alternative is not LO

I wasn't going to comment on this thread, but I just had to use Word10
again for a company spec, and I have to say...

One of the things about the ribbon that I find so annoying is that it
hides information.

Yes, it is organized in a way that some people find convenient and MS
obviously loves - for now.

But especially w.r.t. formatting and styles, I have the worst time
using it and most often resort to a nifty plugin that some brilliant
entrepreneur wrote and distributes for free that emulates the old
menus.

Specifically, I have trouble with two pieces of the styles.

One is that I can't tell from looking at even the expanded menu which
style the cursor paragraph is in. I'm pretty sure it is not my eyes or
color scheme, there's just no indication at all.  It is also difficult
to see what the font and font-size are at a glance.  All of these are
easily and prominently visible in the formatting toolbar that is
standard at the top of every document (in LO and any MSO before 2007).

The other is when I want to use a style that isn't on the menu, but I
know is available.  I've never been able to figure out how to find
them, where in the pre-ribbon menu system, I just click on the style
down-arrow on the formatting bar and poof.  Even if it's not there, I
can click on the formatting styles icon on the same bar and it is
trivial to make everything show up.  The ribbon just doesn't present
this capability, or it is so obscure that finding it is an adventure
all its own.

There are many other things I dislike about the ribbon.  The main one
is that the fundamental window toolbar style and
every-other-imaginable-kind-of-window-except-Chrome menu bar have been
around since the dawn of (all?) windowing systems, so around 30+
years, but MS just couldn't make it better, they had to mangle it
completely and use the 2007 and newer versions to force users into
their new world.

Whatever happened to meeting the users' needs, rather than mandating
their changes?

</soapbox>

Maybe I'm just a traditionalist, but I've seen the whole gamut from
CP/M (and older) to now, and the ribbon made a change that was
unnecessary, cryptic and only barely and narrowly easier to use than
the menus.

Foo.

Cheers!

MR

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