Word's Formatting Palette

[Leigh MacKay]

I've worked with Word in Windows and Mac equally. There are features in
both that are wanting in the other.

In Word for Windows, the Formatting Palette is a wonderfully accessible
window that can be made as large as screen real estate allows.

In Word for Mac, the Formatting Palette is a tiny fixed-sized window
that offers few advantages over the menu bar.

This is just one of many features I hope to see improved in Office 2008.

Frequently, I wonder if the developers actually use the applications
they work on and if there is any exchange between Windows and Mac
developers. If a function works better in one, why not do the same in
the other?

Cheers,
Leigh

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Frequently, I wonder if the developers actually use the applications
they work on and if there is any exchange between Windows and Mac
developers. If a function works better in one, why not do the same in
the other?

Different platforms, different development teams, different markets. The
Mac Business Unit tries to make MacOffice as Mac-like as possible, so
that Mac users will enjoy (and therefore buy) the product.

Different features get developed at different times - sometimes
WinOffice leading, sometimes MacOffice leading.

Some features are platform specific - ActiveX controls are Win only at
this point. The ability to control Office via AppleScript is obviously
Mac-only.

And "if a function works better" is very much in the eye of the
beholder. If MacOffice had adopted the Task Pain (what you're calling
the WinOffice Formatting Pallette), I'd have quit using *either* version
of Office long ago. OTOH, some people love it.

Likewise, if MacBU had violated the Apple Human Interface Guidelines by
porting the Ribbon to MacOffice2008, I'd probably have to switch to
iWorks. As it is, I may eventually find the element galleries useful,
or I may not.

In any case, MacBU does pretty intense market surveys and user studies
to determine what Mac users want. They may not deliver everything, but
IMO it's far better than just cloning WinOffice features.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Different platforms, different development teams, different markets. The
Mac Business Unit tries to make MacOffice as Mac-like as possible, so
that Mac users will enjoy (and therefore buy) the product.

Different features get developed at different times - sometimes
WinOffice leading, sometimes MacOffice leading.

Some features are platform specific - ActiveX controls are Win only at
this point. The ability to control Office via AppleScript is obviously
Mac-only.

And "if a function works better" is very much in the eye of the
beholder. If MacOffice had adopted the Task Pain (what you're calling
the WinOffice Formatting Pallette), I'd have quit using *either* version
of Office long ago. OTOH, some people love it.

Likewise, if MacBU had violated the Apple Human Interface Guidelines by
porting the Ribbon to MacOffice2008, I'd probably have to switch to
iWorks. As it is, I may eventually find the element galleries useful,
or I may not.

In any case, MacBU does pretty intense market surveys and user studies
to determine what Mac users want. They may not deliver everything, but
IMO it's far better than just cloning WinOffice features.

And in supporting JE's comments, Leigh: re your comment "I wonder if the
developers actually use the applications they work on...", MacBU staff are
Mac enthusiasts through and through. One of the most memorable sights I've
experienced in computing is a seminar room full of MacBU people, most with
their MacBooks / MacBook Pros open, taking notes of our briefing. I don't
even see half that many at Mac User Group meetings.

Clive Huggan
============

 

[Leigh MacKay]

And in supporting JE's comments, Leigh: re your comment "I wonder if the
developers actually use the applications they work on...", MacBU staff are
Mac enthusiasts through and through. One of the most memorable sights I've
experienced in computing is a seminar room full of MacBU people, most with
their MacBooks / MacBook Pros open, taking notes of our briefing. I don't
even see half that many at Mac User Group meetings.

Clive Huggan
============

Thanks, Clive and JE. I appreciate your insights.

Don't get me wrong. I like Word. When using the application on one
platform, and the functionality of a feature works more intuitively, I
wonder why it is felt that it needs to be different in the other
platform version.

Of the two, I still prefer the Mac, but feel no loss when using Windows.

I'm looking forward to the 08 version.

Cheers,
Leigh

 

[Clive Huggan]

Thanks, Clive and JE. I appreciate your insights.

Don't get me wrong. I like Word.

"Like it" -- that's an interesting endorsement! I'm expert in it only
because my intense annoyance at Word, post version 5.1a, drove me to try to
overcome it. Hence the title of my downloadable manual: "Bend Word to Your
Will -- or try to". I failed, of course, which is why I'm still here,
learning. One day I hope to qualify for having been fully "Stockholmed" by
it [not my original concept].

When using the application on one
platform, and the functionality of a feature works more intuitively, I
wonder why it is felt that it needs to be different in the other
platform version.

Word is ported from the PC (has been since Word 6). Constraints are (a)
Apple user interface guidelines -- MacBU has a very strong commitment to
them -- (b) respective capabilities of the two platforms and (c) budgetary
constraints, affecting some features of the PC version to be carried across.
Not necessarily in that order.

Of the two, I still prefer the Mac, but feel no loss when using Windows.

Me too. And you aren't Robinson Crusoe, I suspect...

Cheers,
Clive
======

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Of the two, I still prefer the Mac, but feel no loss when using
Windows.

Have you tried Office 2007???
I'm not a huge fan of this version :-(

I sure am glad that the preview of Office 2008 on the MS site doesn't
seem to have adopted *exactly* the same user interface.

Corentin

 

[Leigh MacKay]

"Like it" -- that's an interesting endorsement!

Ha! I suppose liking Word IS faint praise, Clive. LOL. The title of
your manual is so apt. I've hosted university and college Word
workshops. It's a delight to see people gain a measure of confidence
with an application they've mostly used like a typewriter.

Word is ported from the PC (has been since Word 6). Constraints are (a)
Apple user interface guidelines -- MacBU has a very strong commitment to
them -- (b) respective capabilities of the two platforms and (c) budgetary
constraints, affecting some features of the PC version to be carried across.
Not necessarily in that order.

Quite right. I've been told that the developers who are working on Word
today are younger than the coding they're tweaking. "Fix the ol' girl
up as best you can and one day we'll get 'round to doing a job of it."
Well, that's just idle thinking and I've idled long enough.

Cheers
Leigh

 

[Leigh MacKay]

Have you tried Office 2007???
I'm not a huge fan of this version :-(

I've had just the briefest look at it on a friend's new laptop. It
looked nicely dressed up, but I can't speak to its performance. We can
hope, Corentin. (Now there's a fresh name you don't hear everyday.)

Early comments on the Mac version refer to so many task bars they
wonder how someone using a laptop will have any more than a few lines
of text visible. Likely, there will be ways to set things up in the
preferences.

Cheers,
Leigh

 

[John McGhie]

"Performance" of Office 2007 is extremely good. I was surprised: it's
substantially quicker than Office 2003, particularly when doing heavy
hauling. There's a lot of new code in there

There are some things that will bog it down, when you're in documents larger
than 2,000 pages. Different things from Office 2003. But if you give it
enough horsepower and enough memory, it FLIES.

Office for Mac is about ten times slower. Not really significant, if you
are working on "normal" sized documents. Things that take you "less than
one second" in Word 2007, will still take you "less than one second" in Mac
Word

The Office 2007 user interface is an "acquired taste". The more you know
about Word, the more you will hate it, at first. But it is DRAMATICALLY
faster and easier to use for normal users.

It took me at least a couple of months to admit it, but the Ribbon is a
seriously good idea, once I adjusted my working style to use it to its best
advantage.

Cheers

I've had just the briefest look at it on a friend's new laptop. It
looked nicely dressed up, but I can't speak to its performance. We can
hope, Corentin. (Now there's a fresh name you don't hear everyday.)

Early comments on the Mac version refer to so many task bars they
wonder how someone using a laptop will have any more than a few lines
of text visible. Likely, there will be ways to set things up in the
preferences.

Cheers,
Leigh

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John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
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