V1.1 Feature Tour - Part 3: Classic UI Tabs
RibbonCustomizer™ V1.1 ships with a set of Classic UI tabs for Excel, PowerPoint and Word 2007. Those tabs emulate the Office 2003 menus and toolbars in Office 2007. We provide these tabs to help you familiarize yourself faster with the new Ribbon User Interface in Office 2007. Please note that the tabs are not intended to be full replacements for the Ribbon. There are no plans to provide similar Classic UI tabs for Access and Outlook 2007. The Classic UI tabs can be used with the free Starter Edition of RibbonCustomizer™. This means that you can get the 2003 menus and toolbars in Office 2007 without having to make any purchase.
The Classic UI tab can be shown as the first tab, as shown in the following Excel 2007 screenshot:
Alternatively, you can show the Classic UI tab as last tab, as again demonstrated in Excel:
You could display the two Classic UI tabs also at the same time.
The Classic UI tab in PowerPoint can be seen in the next screenshot:
The Classic UI tab in Word is next:
Using the Classic UI tabs
All Classic UI tabs are installed by default with RibbonCustomizer™. They are disabled however by default. To enable the Classic UI in e.g. Excel 2007, open the Customize Ribbon menu and select Customization Schemes (1). If you want the Classic UI as first tab, choose 2. If you want it as last tab, choose 3. The Classic UI tabs in PowerPoint and Word 2007 are enabled/disabled the same way.
German Language Support
All Classic UI tabs are also available in German. They will automatically be displayed in German, if your Office User Interface language is German.
Excel Classic UI tab in German:
PowerPoint Classic UI tab in German:
Word Classic UI tab in German:
Limitations & Problems
Office 2007 is designed completely around the Ribbon. Therefore any Classic UI emulation will be limited in what can be achieved with it. The key problems with any Classic UI emulation are as follows:
- Keyboard shortcuts to open menus (e.g. Alt-F) cannot be used with a Classic UI, because Office intercepts those shortcuts and either offers a 2007 feature triggered by it, or lets you enter a complete 2003 menu shortcut in order to trigger the command it would ordinarily have triggered in 2003. A Classic UI in 2007 is therefore mainly going to be controlled by the mouse.
- Where do you put new features of Office 2007? A major reason that Microsoft decided to do the Ribbon is that they did not really know where to put all the new 2007 features in the menus and toolbars. A Classic UI will therefore always have difficulties with new features.
- The Ribbon has contextual tabs that appear once a user inserts or activates an object. That means, that whatever tab holds the Classic UI will no longer be in the foreground.
- A Classic UI lets one defer learning the Office 2007 Ribbon. Considering the investment Microsoft made into the Ribbon, it can be expected that all future Office versions will have the Ribbon as UI. Menus and toolbars will not return to Microsoft Office. If one defers learning the Ribbon, one will eventually be simply behind.