Microsoft design in a nutshell.

[kickaha]

http://www.betalogue.com/2008/05/20/word-2008-how-to-assign-command-g-to-find-next/

This beautifully encapsulates why MS products are so damned hard to use, and are full of ubiquitous WTF.

Comments

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

...and Office is systematically taking over the rest of MS. By this date, it is likely that the previous sentence should have been in the past tense in order to be fully correct.

I have a lot more to say on this topic, but given my situation it would be inappropriate to do so in a public forum. :) I will merely ask if y'all have settled on dates for your trip yet.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Nope. :/

And yeah, I'm waiting for the ribbon to replace the menu bar in all apps. Which isn't going to solve anything. Menus, when done with a minimum of care, are spiffy keen fine. Menus, when done ala MS, are a nightmare of playing "where did they hide that functionality". Menus were never the problem. Their complete lack of thought of how to lay them out, that was the problem.

But of course, by throwing the baby out with the bathwater, they get to claim 'innovation'... oy.

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

I have seen enough quiet backing off on the ribbon that I would not be too surprised to see it fade to the background in future releases.

They won't abandon it, obviously; that would mean admitting they fsillied up. But I think you'll see a "classic menus" option in the next release of Office, and the ribbon will not get a whole lot more development cycles. I would definitely be surprised (and emphatically not pleasantly) to see the ribbon extended into Windows 7.

I don't *know* anything, nor have I heard any rumors along this line. And the backing off I've noticed has been pretty subtle. So I could be way off base. I hope not.

[badger.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

I see you're trying to convey an emotion. Would you like to:

1) Reboot, reformat, reinstall?
2) Send GPS coordinates for 1 Microsoft Way to NORAD?
3) Smash your skull through your monitor?
4) Re-enact Kill Bill, but with a different Bill?

[badger.livejournal.com]

Typical railroadcontrolfreakfinitegameclosedsystem design, not including an "Other" or even an "Exit to Previous Menu".

(Note: general observation, not specifically targeting MS.)

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

Seriously? He's bitching because Word's keyboard shortcuts don't match the software he prefers?

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Even better--the article notes quite clearly that Word's shortcuts *never have* matched his preferences.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

No, he's bitching because Word's method for supposedly allowing you to change said keyboard shortcuts:

1) Doesn't use the OS-provided system for doing this
2) Doesn't even *listen* to the OS-provided system for doing this (You have to work hard to do this. Seriously. The standard APIs for an application make this a free behavior.)
3) Isn't set up in a way to make it simple to find the action you wish to assign a keystroke to
4) Has conflicting naming schemes that lead you to the wrong place or conclusion on how/whether it is possible to remap that action
5) After completing the appropriate approved method for assigning the keystroke, it doesn't work, because...
6) There is a second, conflicting system for assigning keystrokes that apparently overrides the first that is not referenced from the first method
7) The trigger in that system is a rather arcane '&' prepended to an action name... with no explanation

This is considered normal in the Windows world. It is considered a steaming pile of shit in the Mac world.

For any other app, you go to System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts, and select the app, then assign the keystroke you want to the menu item you want. Done.

MS, of course, has to be 'special'. Like short bus special.

Seriously, why even bother shipping this crap? It's an embarrassment to anyone with half a brain and coding skills.