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Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface

By | August 29, 2011, 9:01am PDT

Summary: The Microsoft Windows 8 engineering team is sharing yet more information on the file-management app built into the next-generation Windows release.

To start off the week, here’s a quick round up of Microsoft news bits from around the Web:

The Windows 8 team is showing off more of the guts of Windows 8’s Explorer feature: The Windows 8 Engineering Team is continuing to trumpet the coming changes in the Windows Explorer component of the coming operating system. In the third post about the Windows Explorer internals on August 29, the Softies explained more about the Explorer file manager application built into Windows 8. (Here’s more info on the first of the three blog posts on the Windows 8 Explorer.)

Microsoft is revamping the Explorer to use the Ribbon user interface. As noted in today’s post, “(w)hile not primarily a touch interface, the ribbon also provides a much more reliable and usable touch-only interface than pull-down menus and context menus (we’ll have lots more to say on the topic of touch, of course … we definitely know there is a lot of interest but also want to make clear that we know how important keyboard and mouse scenarios are to power-user scenarios of file management).”

Update: Windows watchers Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera first noted the Ribbonized UI for the Windows 8 Explorer back in April 2011.

Update No. 2: Reader @TenHoveR notes that the Explorer Ribbon will be able to be hidden. (Ribbon haters, rejoice!)

The Microsoft social gaming toolkit for Azure has reached 1.0, downloadable status: The Redmondians released “the first stable version” of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games and the Tankster game, as of August 25. The latest update “adds several new features, improves the performance and stability of the server application-programming interfaces, and contains many user interface improvements to the sample game,” according to Azure Technical Evangelist Nathan Totten. Microsoft released a test build of the social-gaming toolkit for Azure in July.

Microsoft is phasing out the Windows 7 Logo program for software apps: Microsoft is removing the Windows 7 logo page as of September 15, 2011, according to a new post. The Windows 7 logo program — aimed at identifying products with Microsoft-designed tests designating products as “Compatible with Windows 7″ is on its way out. I’d assume there might be a similar program for Windows 8, waiting in the wings… (Thanks for the heads up, @Windows4Live)

Microsoft is stepping up its private-cloud push: The company is re-igniting its Private Cloud Blog and other related social-networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, forums, etc.). I’m thinking this is all (or largely) in preparation for the launch of a number of new System Center 2012 deliverables. In fact, it seems that the Release Candidate of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 is right around the corner (based on the wording on the Microsoft download center).

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Topics

Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 7, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
dsfwrryd39-24353606884083056179624163738940 10th Nov
yrwzre,good post!
View in thread
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
fhsheridan Updated - 29th Aug
Love the Ribbon UI. Curious. The Ribbon is not a "Metro" inspired touch driven interface or UX is it? It's not Live Tiles and all that jazz?

Is there a version of the File Explorer with the "Metro" style and UX designed for touch? Is this version of File Explorer with the Ribbon for Windows 8 "Classic Mode" only? If so, then obviously Windows 8 "Classic Mode" has UX improvements from Windows 7?

Just speculating and curious. Obviously, who knows?

OK, just reread the post and saw the quote where MS acknowledges that the Ribbon is not primarily a touch interface but in their mind seems better suited for touch than old style menus. Interesting.
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There's a time and place for everything
Joe_Raby 29th Aug
@fhsheridan

Metro is designed to be quick, simple, touch-based, and obvious.

Fluent is designed to expose (sometimes complicated) functionality much more easily to users, thereby reducing the learning curve. It is meant as a solution to "menu-bloat" where things often get hidden away due to lack of space and organization.

They both have their place, but their designs conflict with each other. Windows Explorer is something that will probably become the file manager for power users, while regular users will be content with simple file commands via the Start screen.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
fhsheridan 29th Aug
@Joe_Raby

I think u r right. Until the day comes, if it does, where the desktop/keyboard/mouse ceases to exist, there will always be a "Fluent" UX and a "Metro" UX, and "Fluent" will not just be a static, backwards compatibility mode for "classic" apps.

Wow. One OS, two UX modes based on the nature of the app. Very interesting.
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Not a fan of the ribbon
rbethell 29th Aug
@fhsheridan Not a fan of the ribbon - too much eye candy, and the ribbon in Office dropped, obscured, or hid obvious functionality from the menu.

Try doing a "change case" in Office 2007 or later. Its possible, but you basically have to hunt it down on the Internet to figure it out. Office 2007 took my 20 years of Microsoft Office skills and flushed them, turning me back into a total noob. Four years later, I can do stuff again, but that's a long time to get productive again with something I already knew well.

That said, menus won't work on a touch screen... I suppose that's what we're all being prepared for!
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Change case was tough?
toddybottom 29th Aug
I only have Word 2010 (not Word 2007) but on my copy, Change Case was on the Home tab in the Font group and had an icon with a capital letter and small letter and when I hovered my mouse over it, the tool tip said "Change Case". It took me 3 seconds to find it. In fact, it would have taken me longer to change the case with the old menu system.

I appreciate that you have 20 years of MS Office skills and this is something new but the truth is that you didn't find "Change Case" easily when you used Word for the first time 20 years ago.

An argument could have been made that MS could have kept a "classic" mode but that would have been the wrong move for 2 reasons:

1. It seriously slows down adoption rates since all the 20 year veterans teach the new employees the "Classic" way of doing things even though these new employees would be far better off with the new system.

2. It unnecessarily complicates all development and documentation. Much easier to write for 1 UI.

Apple gets credit for killing the floppy and now for killing the optical drive. MS deserves credit for killing a grossly inefficient UI. Right now, MS is out-innovating everyone else in the UI department.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
GoodThings2Life 29th Aug
@toddybottom ... I completely agree.

I've been working with Office for 20 years too, and yet I had no challenge learning the new interface or even teaching it (since 2007's release) to hundreds of employees that I provide systems for. The only people who have a hard time coping are the ones who can't cope with change at all.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
x233 29th Aug
@rbethell
People either love or hate the ribbon.
I can't agree more on the subject of flushing 20 years of MS Office skills. Add to that loss of your previous macros that you worked with for years and keyboard shortcuts stored in Normal.dot that you used to simply copy from an old computer. All that was gone with Office 2007. I might be wrong but it seems that the folks who embraced the ribbon and other drastic changes in Office 2007 were those who didn't really notice those changes in the first place because they were either new inexperienced users or never had been power users in previous version. All said above is IMHO.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
Patanjali 29th Aug
@x233
Why 'loss of your previous macros that you worked with for years and keyboard shortcuts'?

Macros stored the object model commands and not menu-options, and keyboard shortcuts basically still work.
Even the Alt-key menu-options sequences still work.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
CobraA1 29th Aug
@rbethell "Try doing a 'change case' in Office 2007 or later."

In 2010 it's a single click, and it's in the home tab, so it's showing on the screen by default. For most people, that's gonna mean it's far easier to find than older versions of Office.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
jmwells21 30th Aug
@rbethell yah dood... it's right there under the fonts. I hope you didn't spend TOO long searching the internet for that tidbit...
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
sullivanjc 30th Aug
@rbethell - I agree. The ribbon was a big step backward. I'm not sure I agree about menus on a touch screen though. It's not any more difficult to touch a menu item than it is a similarly sized icon of some kind. The only real difference is reading vs interpreting hieroglyphics.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
pj_mouse 30th Aug
@rbethell

Actually, I love the Ribbon interface! It's gotten a number of people to switch to OpenOffice.org and now Libre Office which means I'm doing less tech support for them.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
Traxxion 31st Aug
@GoodThings2Life

Hate to burst your bubble there, but not everything about the Ribbon interface can be praised. I didn't have any problem using it either, but much of the new layout is not the least bit intuitive and 'liking' it has little to do with flexibility or intelligence. For a simple example, where do you go to insert a page break in Word? Insert menu perhaps? Ah yes, there it is! Now how about a section break - Insert menu perhaps? WRONG! It's under Page Layout.

Now, 'I' know where it is, but that doesn't mean I think of this as the best layout for my menus.

Don't even get me started on the now missing Options menu. Instead, we now have to navigate to the main office menu, then Options, and are confronted with a host of generic sounding menu items, none of which seem to vaguely describe the options that lie within. Again, 'I' know how to go about finding something, but I constantly have to answer end user questions about where something is, after they have spent half an hour searching for it. Now, call me Mr. Obvious, but that doesn't seem particularly intuitive, or superior to Tools->Options->[Insert Appropriate Category]

In MS Access or Excel this syndrome is 100 times worse.....
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
facebook@... 29th Aug
I was originally not a big fan of the Ribbon. After seeing the advantages the Ribbon has over the antiquated file menu design, I am delighted to see Microsoft extend the Ribbon UX to other platforms.
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Have to agree
rhonin 29th Aug
@facebook@...
Once I took the time to really learn and use it.
Itnis a much better tool than the legacy menu/bar system.

wink
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
x I'm tc 29th Aug
@rhonin
I think it literally took me a year to get as good with the ribbon as I was with the menus. I don't know if it's any better than menus were, but it certainly isn't worse -- at least on higher-res screens. However, when windows are scaled down, information on the ribbon disappears, and this can be hard to work with.

Still, overall I think it's an improvement. Very elegant.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
BuckedUp 1st Sep
@rhonin
Agreed. And if you look at the MS presentation, it's easy to see their case that the main features on the main ribbon cover 80% of what a user is likely to want.
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After 3 years, I still can't stand the ribbon interface.
Bruizer 29th Aug
@facebook@...

It is so much slower to work with than the old menu systems. I see that the learning curve is not as steep but the proficiency plateaus very quickly.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
bitcrazed Updated - 29th Aug
@Bruizer - sorry, but I heartily disagree with you. Taking Office 2007/2010 as a currently accessable example, the Ribbon has exposed a TON of features that used to be buried deep in dialogs that were only accessible via a nested menu. Many of my clients are stunned to "discover" that Word has column support, footnotes, etc. which are all accessible with two mouse clicks, even though they've actually been in Word for YEARS.

Further, the new easy to learn keystroke sequences allow you to reach EVERY feature of the ribbon, unlike the toolbars of old. While it takes a little time to learn the new keystrokes, the increased range of features accessible through keystrokes MORE than makes up for having to re-train my fingers.
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@bitcrazed: Shallower learning curve but plateaus quickly.
Bruizer 29th Aug
@Bruizer

That is what I said. The speed that I can still navigate the older menu system is 2-3X faster than the Ribbons even when using keyboards. For the casual once a week user, the Ribbons are OK. For people that actually use Word/Excel, they are a RPITA.

MS should have kept both available since almost all Ribbon interfaces simply take you to the legacy confusing dialog boxes anyway.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
GoodThings2Life 29th Aug
@Bruizer ... I remember 4 years ago when it first came out, I was taking a Business and Technical Writing course, and our class was sitting in a lab with Office 2003 computers. We were tasked with formatting a document in a particular way, and use it to generate a mail merge. I pulled out my laptop with Office 2007 on it, and it took me less time to boot up, logon, open Word and complete the project than it took for most people to figure out where Mail Merge was even at in the menus.

There is nothing I can't accomplish in 2-3 clicks that didn't require more than 5 in the old version, and that's assuming I knew where to look in the old.

It's pretty freaking obvious when you click "Insert" or "Page Layout" which options you're going to see!
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GoodThings2Life: Some people want to be left behind
toddybottom 29th Aug
@Bruizer
They are more comfortable doing a task in a familiar way than they are doing a task in a new way even if that new way is far more efficient. I can already tell in these talkbacks exactly who is afraid of change.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
JoeFoerster 30th Aug
@toddybottom, I am not afraid of change (early adopter on lots of things) and yet I hate the ribbon. I guess you'll need to go back and do more research to come up with the correct answer. Sometimes people just have a preference and it isn't due to some perceived shortcoming.
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Change for the sake of change
ScorpioBlue 2nd Sep
I have to agree with @Bruizer. I don't think adding more visual clutter to the top of the screen helps any. And pop down ribbons that hide when you don't use them are highly annoying. Just like those stupid add-on tool bars people used to get back in the XP days.

Having to use the tab key all the time to scroll across the ribbon is ponderous compared to hitting the old fashioned ALT key and hitting the underscored letter in a menu.

You fanboys make it sound like some kind of moral failing that some people out there just don't like the ribbon. That they're afraid of change in general. What a load of bunk.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
ItsTheBottomLine 30th Aug
@facebook@... Agreed. Ribbon interface is quick and easy. Took just a little while but once it was there - very nice.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
fpineda101 30th Aug
@facebook@... Its pretty cool, but I have auto hide turned on for it, takes up too much screen real estate.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
paul2011 29th Aug
Ribbons would work much better than regular menus in touch interface. Just trying to get to the menu item is pain in touch environment. Touch somewhere outside of the menu and menu closes. Ribbons are much better in that regard.

Microsoft is seriously thinking about touch support this time. What they tried in Windows 7 did not really work. You cannot map fingers gestures to mouse clicks. System has to support touch like Windows Phone 7 does.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
lollylollylollylolly 29th Aug
As nifty as this may be I think it's pretty narrow sighted. Though, I may be interpreting the usage data differently. When my cursor is down amongst the files doing my dirtiest right-clicking, drag/dropping, hotkeying action that's where I am. If I move up to the top of the window to execute a command that will slow me down and I don't really think Microsoft will be doing that great of a thing by putting the ribbon on the explorer window. In my opinion they would have done a lot better to make a timed flyout that contained the top 3 or 4 commands that appeared after you hovered on a file for a tenth of a second or so. I believe there was even some UI study done that stated the closer two commands are to each other the easier the interface is to use. If people are gaining access to these commands through context menus and hot keys then they're already down amongst the icons themselves. Some sort of context aware hover command on the left of the icon would put these commonly used commands where people are already used to going to do their work. Ultimately, I think this will just leave people wondering what Microsoft is doing though they will be given a couple high fives for "good effort."
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
TheCyberKnight 29th Aug
One thing is getting clearer now and it is the fact that there will likely be two very distinct user experiences: one for the new tablet oriented stuff and one for the plain old Windows experience.

There is no way a revised Explorer like the one just shown can make it for a tablet UX. No matter how an improvement it is over the existing one, the Windows widgets just belong to the desktop era and will never cut it for finger driven interfaces.
We all understand that classic style (desktop) UX won't disappear tomorrow and that professional IT worker need this type of UX but the reality is also at the "normal" consumer level that only wants WEMP (Web-Email-Music-Pictures) from their computer.

Without a modern UX like the one shown during the D9 conference, Microsoft is heading to an unfortunate "popular" failure because it is at this level that Windows 8 will be compared within the population. And the current perception is already not on their side.
Tough times to come if there is not a dramamatic change in the pipeline.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
paul2011 29th Aug
@TheCyberKnight
Most controls work just fine in mouse and in touch environments. Push buttons, edit boxes, comboboxes, checkboxes.. etc. Menus on the other hand do not work that great and MS is right to replace them with ribbons.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
TheCyberKnight Updated - 29th Aug
@paul2011
I'm sorry but I disagree. It is barely usable and the experience is nowhere near where it should be when using Windows on a tablet.

If Microsoft thinks that by doing some minimal effort here and there (like putting ribbons everywhere), it will make the product more attractive to casual users, it is heading into a very humiliating failure.

Windows needs a very modern and distinctive UX like the briliant work that was done by the Metro team if it wants to be taken seriously on the tablet front.

P.S. I own an Acer W500 running Windows 7.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
fhsheridan 29th Aug
@TheCyberKnight

Spot on.

So, the fun part. Creating the UX for a LOB app. Metro or Fluent, or both? hmmm ... and of course, they want it on the IPhone also.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
koolin_ Updated - 29th Aug
Only place the ribbon fails is SharePoint, everywhere else I love the ribbon. Just get it out of SharePoint, or fix it.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
facebook@... 29th Aug
@koolin_

I disagree. The ribbon, especially if you are using Office Web Apps, organizes and arranges information in a context-sensitive aware way that minimizes my "hunt and peck" time.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
koolin_ Updated - 29th Aug
@facebook@... Office Web Apps it makes sense. Where it doesn't make sense how it is currently implemented is for lists and document libraries inside SharePoint. It kills off navigation and users get lost with it switching tabs automatically when they click on an area. No doubt big buttons and the clean interface is better but how it works on a SharePoint site is not friendly.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
facebook@... 29th Aug
@koolin_

I suppose, YMMV. I personally prefer the new UI because everything is within one to two clicks away. Navigating down through the 2007 Settings was cumbersome in comparison.
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They still have that convoluted management settings screen....
Joe_Raby 29th Aug
@koolin_

Sharepoint still has that management screen with like 100 text links. It's like if you went into Windows 7's Control Panel and searched for "a". That's about the same number of links. wink
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
Cylon Centurion Updated - 29th Aug
Hm. I'm torn on this. While I love the Ribbon (It's HIGHLY efficient, and time saving, not to mention beautiful to look at), I find it somewhat cluttering when being used here. Maybe once I get to use it, I'll like it more, but I see a lot of folks complaing about clutter here.

Running this on a 1024x600 netbook might not be so great.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
ScorpioBlue 29th Aug
For once I agree with you. That ribbon takes up too much screen real estate compared to the hidden drop downs of Win7. The clutter isn't more efficient. Just different.

Not good for small screens or netbooks.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
Cylon Centurion 29th Aug
@ScorpioBlue

To be fair, there is a customizable Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) that'll work better. YOu can see it here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/4380.Figure-24-_2D00_-Alex_2700_s-customizations_5F00_2.png
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
ScorpioBlue 29th Aug
@Cylon Centurion

I know what it is, but that still doesn't address the issue I raised.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
bitcrazed 29th Aug
@ScorpioBlue - Did you even read the post on the B8 blog? It walks you through the comprehensive set of telemetry info and user studies that Microsoft performed and clearly illustrates that they're lifting the 10 most used activities to the "home" tab of the Explorer ribbon, rather than burying them in menus/context menus/toolbar buttons.

They, therefore, are making Explorer *far* more efficient for most users.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
ScorpioBlue Updated - 30th Aug
@bitcrazed

That's sounds like the usual Microsoft claptrap that they use to dismiss any customer concerns that are brought up. Have you even seen the ribbon on an 11" screen or less?

Until you do, whatever spin you parrot from Microsoft is irrelevant.
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Pretty, yes. Time-saving, not even close.
Bruizer 29th Aug
@Cylon Centurion

For touch, the Ribbon would not be a bad implementation but for keyboard and mouse centric, the menu is many times faster and more efficient.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
paul2011 29th Aug
@Bruizer
Keyboard shortcuts are fastest. RIP menus.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
Cylon Centurion 29th Aug
@Bruizer

The menu? No way. The faster drop downs disappear, the better.
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Paul: exactly right. I laugh at these so called power users
toddybottom 29th Aug
Anyone who calls themselves a "power user" and yet complains that they miss tool bars and menus are not power users at all. Power users use keyboard shortcuts because they are the fastest. For everyone else, the Ribbon is superior to the old menu + cluttered toolbar UI.
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
ScorpioBlue 29th Aug
For everyone else, the Ribbon is superior to the old menu + cluttered toolbar UI.

To claim the ribbon doesn't look cluttered is just plain ridiculous. One would have to blind to claim that.

In WE on Win7, having the menus hidden does make for a cleaner UI. Even MS's own pictures at one of the websites up above proves this.
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Wow, I am amazed you people have no clue.
Bruizer 29th Aug
@Bruizer

That the menus were fully keyboard controlled. Only casual users used the mouse to navigate the menus. Power users always navigated the menus with the fa.

The engineering team that came up with the Ribbons should be slapped with a sloppy wet trout.
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The ALT key is your best friend
ScorpioBlue 30th Aug
You hit the ALT and the command underscores come up and one uses keyboard shortcuts to navigate to each feature. Then the menu gets hidden away once you execute the command.

I find it very inconsistent that MS wants to clean up IE9 by reducing the clutter in it's browser, yet at the same time they want to increase the clutter in WE. That's stupid
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RE: Microsoft shows off its 'Ribbonized' Windows 8 file-management interface
dsfwrryd39-24353606884083056179624163738940 10th Nov
yrwzre,good post!

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