Author Topic: I was a Luddite for MS Office 2003 (Read 2992 times)

eth0s · « **on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 00:09:18 »

So, I was feeling like MS Windows, and I kept using Office 2003 for way too long. I just switched over to Office 2013. It's g*ddamned horrible. The ribbons are beyond stupid. The animations are giving me fits of palsy. I absolutely hate it. Does nobody indent paragraphs anymore? And what is with the default fonts. "Calibri"? they shoulda called it "Callibro", cuz it don't work. Like a dude from Cali with a surfboard and a dream, I guess. Anyway, I'm paying my part for Steve Ballmer's retirement. That fat f*ck.

HoffmanMyster · « **Reply #1 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 01:51:50 »

Welcome to 2007. Unfortunately for you, I think the rest of the world is used to the ribbons after seven years, so likely won't join in and complain.

I will say though, I hate that the default font is not Times New Roman, but you can change the default font so ridiculously easy that it's basically a non-issue.

And what's the deal with indenting paragraphs, I don't understand what you mean by that.

noisyturtle · « **Reply #2 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 01:53:11 »

Please explain to me what ribbons are as if I didn't already know what they were...

rowdy · « **Reply #3 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 05:26:37 »

Quote from: noisyturtle on Mon, 22 September 2014, 01:53:11

Please explain to me what ribbons are as if I didn't already know what they were...

Instead of the FIle, Edit, Select ... menu across the top of the window, there is a wide bar with some icons on it and tabs. Selecting tabs shows a different group of icons. The icons obscure the familiar menu options that we all learned over many years. Keyboard shortcuts still kinda work (like Alt-F A to save as), but not for long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_(computing)

katushkin · « **Reply #4 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 05:47:04 »

I still can't get used to the ribbons. Just because it takes me twice as long to do something because I can't find anything.

I think the problem with them is that they change depending on what you have selected, which while good in principle, I just assume that there is every option I need on there, but then there isn't, and it's all in random places including the right click menu. It is annoying.

rowdy · « **Reply #5 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 05:53:52 »

And sometimes you select something from a ribbon and the ribbon stays as it is, sometimes is jumps back to the Home "page".

If you scroll the mouse wheel with the pointer somewhere in the ribbon, the active "page" on the ribbon changes.

You get different buttons depending on how wide the window is.

Half the time the button you want is not there, there is no menu, and you end up clicking that little triangle thing which brings up EXACTLY THE SAME fracking dialog box as in all previous versions of Microsoft Office, just now it is hidden behind a stupid pretty ribbon.

I don't like ribbons - can you tell?

fohat.digs · « **Reply #6 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 07:14:32 »

More ribbon hate here.

I was a Luddite for Office 2000 myself, that was the last one that more or less allowed multiple installations (with a wife and 2 kids it gets pretty onerous to buy software 4 times for rather casual use in a single household).

I upgraded to 2003, in about 2006, with software that I got from work, but that was what I used until 2010.

The ribbon is a nightmare and I would gladly go back to 2000, which did everything I need, but inter-compatibility in the real world and later versions of Windows makes that impossible.

HoffmanMyster · « **Reply #7 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 07:48:13 »

Huh, apparently there is more ribbon hate than I expected.

I'm still not the biggest fan of them after all these years, and I wish they hadn't done it, but I do feel that I've gotten used to them to the extent that going back now would feel weird. So now it's just this awkward in between where nothing is right.

tp4tissue · « **Reply #8 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 08:11:30 »

Helvetica is a ****ty font in terms of readability...

For Times New Roman the Serifs are good for PRINT text.. but that's because print is usually much Smaller than on PC..

If you have a big display.. then Serifs are an unnecessary complication, and takes more processing power from your mind to decode..

on PC , Segeo UI has been the best balanced font for legibility.

dorkvader · « **Reply #9 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 09:21:59 »

In 2007 I said: ok office, enough is enough and switched to openoffice.

Later that year I gave up on windows completely and used linux as my OS of choice.

Now I use windows for gaming, but I'm glad that that's changing too.

microsoft windows · « **Reply #10 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 10:06:48 »

You should get Office 97. Excellent software.

tp4tissue · « **Reply #11 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 10:48:11 »

Quote from: microsoft windows on Mon, 22 September 2014, 10:06:48

You should get Office 97. Excellent software.

does office 97 work on win 7

rowdy · « **Reply #12 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 15:12:06 »

Quote from: microsoft windows on Mon, 22 September 2014, 10:06:48

You should get Office 97. Excellent software.

Or Office 95? That was a good one. Stability and useability peaked with Office 2000, then went downhill ever since.

I use LibreOffice at home - no ribbons, free, cross-platform, no ribbons, opens and saves most Microsoft formats, no ribbons

Puddsy · « **Reply #13 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 15:51:29 »

i bet someone has made a skin/mod to get office 2013 to look/work like 2002

jacobolus · « **Reply #14 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 15:57:21 »

Microsoft Word has been a steaming pile of bug-infested **** since Word 6.0 in 1993; 20+ years of awfulness. Word 5.1 for Mac (and earlier versions, so that’s 1985–1992) was a great piece of software (for the time).

SpAmRaY · « **Reply #15 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 16:02:28 »

Quote from: TacticalStache on Mon, 22 September 2014, 15:51:29

i bet someone has made a skin/mod to get office 2013 to look/work like 2002

http://www.addintools.com/office2010/professionalplus/index.html

something like this?

noisyturtle · « **Reply #16 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 17:55:49 »

I switched to Office 2010 from OpenOffice because Libra kept ****ing up the formatting. While MS 2010 isn't perfect, to me it far superior to Libra at least.
I dunno what you guys are complaining about. One of the great features is the ability to change your starting profile however you see fit, never had any issues once I figured that out.
I'm still not sure what a ribbon is

dorkvader · « **Reply #17 on:** Mon, 22 September 2014, 23:48:42 »

Quote from: noisyturtle on Mon, 22 September 2014, 17:55:49

I switched to Office 2010 from OpenOffice because Libra kept ****ing up the formatting. While MS 2010 isn't perfect, to me it far superior to Libra at least.
I dunno what you guys are complaining about. One of the great features is the ability to change your starting profile however you see fit, never had any issues once I figured that out.
I'm still not sure what a ribbon is

If I'm worried about formatting, I just use LaTeX: no issues there.

blackbox · « **Reply #18 on:** Tue, 23 September 2014, 08:53:11 »

I remember working at IT-support department receiving so many complaints about the new ribbon ui when we upgraded from 2003 to 2007. Usually this calmed them down:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/interactive-word-2003-to-word-2007-command-reference-guide-HA010074432.aspx

jacobolus · « **Reply #19 on:** Tue, 23 September 2014, 16:01:14 »

For just writing a text document, use a text editor. I like TextMate, but emacs, vim, BBEdit, or notepad works just fine. Use Markdown for basic formatting. (This includes preparing manuscripts that someone else will be responsible for typesetting)

For math (or other formula-heavy) papers, use LaTeX.

For typesetting anything else that needs to look pretty printed (e.g. resumes, brochures, technical documents, posters, books), InDesign is so so so much better than Word.

tp4tissue · « **Reply #20 on:** Tue, 23 September 2014, 16:03:10 »

I only use like maybe 10-15 buttons .. once I found where they were on the new ribbon.. I adopted just fine..

rowdy · « **Reply #21 on:** Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:27:02 »

Quote from: blackbox on Tue, 23 September 2014, 08:53:11

I remember working at IT-support department receiving so many complaints about the new ribbon ui when we upgraded from 2003 to 2007. Usually this calmed them down:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/interactive-word-2003-to-word-2007-command-reference-guide-HA010074432.aspx

It is really, really sad that Microsoft had to create something like this.

Why is the user interface so different? Instead of paying people to create tools to help people cope with the new interface, why not just pay them to create the new interface that is at least similar to the old one?

Same goes for the control panel. Up to about Windows 2000 it was the same, easy to find things, familiar. Now I have to search for everything, which slows down my use of the computer and increases frustration.

fohat.digs · « **Reply #22 on:** Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:32:23 »

Quote from: rowdy on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:27:02

Now I have to search for everything, which slows down my use of the computer and increases frustration.

Of course.

And what year, beginning with "19--" were you born?

Give it up like the dinosaur that you are.

HoffmanMyster · « **Reply #23 on:** Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:37:16 »

Quote from: rowdy on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:27:02

Same goes for the control panel. Up to about Windows 2000 it was the same, easy to find things, familiar. Now I have to search for everything, which slows down my use of the computer and increases frustration.

Control panel is so hard to navigate, I've just memorized the names of what I use and "search" for them in the start menu to run them.

rowdy · « **Reply #24 on:** Tue, 23 September 2014, 19:38:18 »

Quote from: fohat.digs on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:32:23

Quote from: rowdy on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:27:02

Now I have to search for everything, which slows down my use of the computer and increases frustration.

Of course.

And what year, beginning with "19--" were you born?

Give it up like the dinosaur that you are.

Old: Click Start - Control Panel, double-click the entry I want.

New: Click Start - Control Panel, make sure the search field has focus, click on it just in case, try to imagine how Microsoft would describe teh control panel area I am looking for, type the first few characters in, review the list of search results to find one that is a closest match to what I actually want, click.

Maybe I am getting old, but the old way of doing things just seems so much simpler.

HoffmanMyster · « **Reply #25 on:** Wed, 24 September 2014, 08:49:53 »

Quote from: rowdy on Tue, 23 September 2014, 19:38:18

Quote from: fohat.digs on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:32:23
Quote from: rowdy on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:27:02

Now I have to search for everything, which slows down my use of the computer and increases frustration.

Of course.

And what year, beginning with "19--" were you born?

Give it up like the dinosaur that you are.

Old: Click Start - Control Panel, double-click the entry I want.

New: Click Start - Control Panel, make sure the search field has focus, click on it just in case, try to imagine how Microsoft would describe teh control panel area I am looking for, type the first few characters in, review the list of search results to find one that is a closest match to what I actually want, click.

Maybe I am getting old, but the old way of doing things just seems so much simpler.

Improved New: Push Win Key -> Start typing.

Or is there something more unique to your use case that voids this method?

rowdy · « **Reply #26 on:** Wed, 24 September 2014, 17:19:04 »

Quote from: HoffmanMyster on Wed, 24 September 2014, 08:49:53

Quote from: rowdy on Tue, 23 September 2014, 19:38:18
Quote from: fohat.digs on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:32:23
Quote from: rowdy on Tue, 23 September 2014, 17:27:02

Now I have to search for everything, which slows down my use of the computer and increases frustration.

Of course.

And what year, beginning with "19--" were you born?

Give it up like the dinosaur that you are.

Old: Click Start - Control Panel, double-click the entry I want.

New: Click Start - Control Panel, make sure the search field has focus, click on it just in case, try to imagine how Microsoft would describe teh control panel area I am looking for, type the first few characters in, review the list of search results to find one that is a closest match to what I actually want, click.

Maybe I am getting old, but the old way of doing things just seems so much simpler.

Improved New: Push Win Key -> Start typing.

Or is there something more unique to your use case that voids this method?

What is the point in having a GUI if you do not use it? If we could dispense with the mouse completely and just use the keyboard, I would be happy. But many things are not easily achieved with keyboard alone on Windows.

HoffmanMyster · « **Reply #27 on:** Wed, 24 September 2014, 17:22:24 »

Quote from: rowdy on Wed, 24 September 2014, 17:19:04

What is the point in having a GUI if you do not use it? If we could dispense with the mouse completely and just use the keyboard, I would be happy. But many things are not easily achieved with keyboard alone on Windows.

You're absolutely right, and I agree that the new control panel is poopy, I was just trying to help for that one scenario. Not that I thought you didn't know how to do that, but perhaps you just hadn't done it out of habit.

hoggy · « **Reply #28 on:** Thu, 02 October 2014, 00:56:54 »

Eth0s,
if you right click on a button after you've spent a while finding it, you see an option to add it to the quick access toolbar (it hangs out in the title bar). Saves you looking for it again. Good luck with your adaptation.

rowdy · « **Reply #29 on:** Thu, 02 October 2014, 05:30:31 »

Quote from: HoffmanMyster on Wed, 24 September 2014, 17:22:24

Quote from: rowdy on Wed, 24 September 2014, 17:19:04
What is the point in having a GUI if you do not use it? If we could dispense with the mouse completely and just use the keyboard, I would be happy. But many things are not easily achieved with keyboard alone on Windows.

You're absolutely right, and I agree that the new control panel is poopy, I was just trying to help for that one scenario. Not that I thought you didn't know how to do that, but perhaps you just hadn't done it out of habit.

Help appreciated, sir. I still use Windows XP for a fair percentage of my Windows stuff, I use a Mac at home, and about 1/2 of my work stuff is done on Linux, so I'm probably just a bit slow to change my habits.

News:

Author Topic: I was a Luddite for MS Office 2003 (Read 2992 times)