Jensen Harris and the new Microsoft Office user interface

Microsoft Office is probably the most ubiquitous piece of software in the world. For most people who use their computers for work, at least one Office app is probably open at any given time. Over the years, Office has grown increasingly complex and feature heavy- bloated, according to many people.

For the next Windows version of Office, which will likely be released early next year, Microsoft decided to completely change the user interface in an attempt to make the programs' functionality easier to find. Menus and toolbar buttons as we know them are gone in Office 2007, replaced with a fairly dramatic new concept called the "ribbon".

Making such a big change to the interface of programs that are so widely used is a really big deal. While most people would probably be open to the idea that Office's traditional interface is not necessarily the most efficient design possible, many people are concerned that making such a dramatic change to a fundamental tool used by literally hundreds of millions of people- many if not most of whom are not computer experts- will result in mayhem.

I've been peripherally following the progress of the new Office UI online for the past several months, and last weekend I stumbled across Jensen Harris's blog. Jensen is one of the Microsoft developers who's responsible for designing the new Office UI, and he goes into incredible detail about the history of Office's UI, Microsoft's decision-making criteria for deciding to change it, and the various stages of the redesign process- which is still ongoing at the moment.

Jensen is a very good writer, and I was interested enough in the few posts I read when I found his blog that I went all the way back to the beginning and read the whole thing. If you're interested in software or any form of product design, I think you'll really enjoy this. Here's a post that I think demonstrates the nature of the blog pretty well. There's been a tremendous amount of research, study, experimentation, and thought put behind the new Office UI, and the blog details it in a very thorough and entertaining way.

Reading it has raised my level of awareness of computer UI in general, and my appreciation for the factors that go into its design. Jensen's blog, along with a large number of other blogs by Microsoft developers, really help to humanize Microsoft, and I commend them for it. I am extremely critical of Microsoft on many levels, and nothing Jensen or anyone else has written changes my attitude about Microsoft in general. But what these blogs are successful at doing is showing that real people, with real passion and talent, do exist at Microsoft, and that there is greatness beneath the heavy coat of mismanagement at the top that is struggling to break free.

The ultimate success or failure of Office 2007's new UI is still to be determined, but it's cool to see Microsoft taking real steps to evolve the basic tenets of software design. Not even Apple- a company that I applaud for its attention to design detail- has endeavored to attempt to rewrite the basic concepts behind menus and toolbars. (Speaking of which, there's been no public announcement about the fate of the next Mac version of Office's UI. I'm assuming it will be updated to resemble the new Windows version, but it will be interesting to see how the new UI translates to the Mac, which has a menu bar built directly into the operating system UI as a fundamental component).

I've been playing with the new UI in the beta 2 version of Office 2007 for a few days, and I think I like it. I haven't installed the beta on my primary work computer, so it's difficult to really give it the thorough kind of test that I would need in order to get a real feel for it. Most of my experience with it has been in quick and experimental jaunts, not actual usage. But it's definitely a thoroughly thought-through design, and it's definitely got potential. I think it's a big step in the right direction, and I have really enjoyed reading about its development.