Jensen Harris: An Office User Interface Blog
Stroking the Keys in Office 12
There are three ways to use the keyboard to get work done in the new Office 12 UI. Type 1: Keyboard...
Author: jensenh Date: 10/13/2005
Most People Are Not Trained In Geology
One of the tenets of the Office 12 user interface is that we don't want people to have to look...
Author: jensenh Date: 10/11/2005
Combating the Perception of Bloat (Why the UI, Part 3)
This is the third part in my weekly series of entries in which I outline some of the reasons we...
Author: jensenh Date: 10/10/2005
Thrown For a Loop
The Ribbon is an example of what's called in academic circles "modal" design. Broadly, this means a...
Author: jensenh Date: 10/05/2005
Learning From the MVPs
Last week, Microsoft hosted the MVP Global Summit here on campus in Redmond. After a summer of...
Author: jensenh Date: 10/04/2005
Ye Olde Museum Of Office Past (Why the UI, Part 2)
This is the second part in my weekly series of entries in which I outline some of the reasons we...
Author: jensenh Date: 10/03/2005
What programs get the new Office UI?
A number of programs and services make up what is now called the Microsoft Office System. Not all of...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/30/2005
Be Willing To Be Wrong
Early in our work designing Ribbon content, we had little data to go on in terms of how different...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/29/2005
Office 12: It's Not Just UI
There are a number of other Microsoft Office employee blogs you can check out if you're interested...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/28/2005
Dialog Launchers
A common question I hear: "Are there dialog boxes in Office 12?" The answer is a definite "yes."...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/27/2005
The Why of the New UI (Part 1)
This is the first in a series of Monday entries I'm going to publish over the upcoming weeks in...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/26/2005
Thoughts on the Microsoft Company Meeting
Today was the Microsoft Company Meeting at Safeco Field in downtown Seattle. Last year instead of...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/24/2005
A 'Rand'om Word Trick For You
Here's a Word trick you can use to entertain and amuse your family and friends. OK, I'm overstating...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/23/2005
Formatting: An Act In Three Plays
One challenge that some people have raised against a gallery-based approach to formatting is that...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/22/2005
Results-Oriented Design (Galleries: Part 3 of 3)
Over the last few days, I've explained some of the major capabilities of the gallery control in...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/21/2005
Visualize Whirled Peas (Galleries: Part 2 of 3)
Yesterday, I started discussing the "gallery", which is a new control that appears throughout the...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/20/2005
I'm In Louvre! (Galleries: Part 1 of 3)
As I mentioned last week, the Office 12 Ribbon was designed to host a variety of control types. Most...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/19/2005
It's All About Context
Right-click contextual menus were first introduced in Office 4.x (which included Word 6.0 and Excel...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/16/2005
Mythbusters: The Office 12 New UI
Although the amount of attention being paid to the new UI in news reports and especially the...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/16/2005
Enter the Ribbon
One of the core components of the new user experience is something we call the "Ribbon." The Ribbon...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/15/2005
My Schedule at PDC
I had a blast presenting today at PDC. Thanks so much for all you I met in person for the kind words...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/13/2005
Office 12 New UI: The Cat's Out
As you may have seen by now in many news articles as well as...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/13/2005
Hello world!
(Isn't that how you're supposed to start anything computer-related?) My name is Jensen Harris and I...
Author: jensenh Date: 09/13/2005