I have been doing a database in A2K7 lately. So far, I'm very happy
with the ribbon layout and the developer experience (once I get used
to where all the ribbon actions are located). It's taking me very
little time to adapt to the new interface. It's going to be a
productive environment for me even though I know that I will discover
some odd behavior and am already experiencing slower data retrieval
than with previous versions of Access. Kudos to Microsoft for making
sure that the A2K7 ribbon was designed so that it does not interfere
with developer productivity.

James A. Fortune
CDMAPoster (AT) FortuneJames (DOT) com

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but all should be aware that there
is a considerable body of Access users who disagree with your assessment of
"ease of getting used to where all the ribbon action are located", and whose
experience differs from yours on "adapting to the new interface". There
have been some (but many think, far too few) improvements over the 2007 UI
in Access 2010. If I had the gall to try to convince my clients that it
was easy for their employees to learn, and easier to use once they did, I'd
lose them to some consultant who took a more realistic view, Jim.

Just one example, there's a reason that even the Access team has
acknowledged the common use of "navigation pain" rather than "navigation
pane" by their experienced users. Note, I did not say they _publicly
agreed_.

Larry


"James A. Fortune" <CDMAPoster (AT) FortuneJames (DOT) com> wrote

On May 19, 2:46*pm, "Access Developer" <accde... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
I stand by the opinions I stated, but also note that there is a world
of difference between a software designer and a typical user getting
used to a new interface. Confusing the two could be considered
unrealistic. Most of my users don't like the ribbon much, but that
seems more due to the fact that they didn't want to learn ANY new
interface. My observation only applied to me personally. Except for
not liking the amount of real estate it takes up when not minimized, I
am learning to like the ribbon quite a bit. Even without learning
where everything is on the ribbon I'm finding that my development
cycle is already more efficient than with previous versions.
Microsoft and I have been at odds in the past due to issues initiated
unilaterally by them, so I'm not a huge Microsoft fan, but I believe
in giving credit where credit is due. Maybe the problem most users
have with the ribbon is that it was designed by people who are very
knowledgeable about user interfaces :-). I might not like a new user
interface designed to have the broadest appeal at all. For the
record, I have not made any recommendations at all where I work about
the ribbon. I'll let them know eventually that I can put it on older
versions of Access if it eventually turns out they like it, or that I
can take it off of newer versions. BTW, without differing opinions
there would be no point in having the newsgroup to begin with. Just
put the accepted body of knowledge on a web site. Oh, that's right -
MSDN is already there :-)!

James A. Fortune
CDMAPoster (AT) FortuneJames (DOT) com