I've been asked to teach a workshop on database design principles for
a group of colleagues. We will be using Microsoft Access as the
platform. That's good -- I love Access.

Unfortunately, I just learned that we will be using a computer lab
which was upgraded to Office 2010. I use Access 2003. I have no
experience with Access 2010. I'm sure the new version works great for
those who use it, but I've heard that the ribbon bar is very difficult
for people accustomed to older versions. I'm concerned that I'll be
hobbled by the ribbon bar and I won't be able to teach the workshop
effectively.

Of course, I won't have to worry about this if Microsoft included an
option to revert to the old-style menus. Did they?

-TC

I extend my sincere sympathy.

There is no substitute for practice and 'time with your back to the wall' in
making the transition from classic Access menus to the <SARCASM> "wonderful,
glorious, exciting Ribbon", the navigation pane (more often called
"navigation pain"), and the "great" new development environment </SARCASM>.
So I hope you have plenty of time to climb your learning curve before
teaching your workshop.

There are hoops you can jump through to make the Ribbon somewhat less
irritating, but if you are introducing users to the new version, you really
should be teaching them the new version (hint: it does _not_ have an
"option" to "use classic menus"), Ribbon, Nav Pain, and new Dev Environment
included.

--
Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-Author, Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions, Wiley 2010

"TC" <existential.philosophy (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

On 26/04/2012 05:26:18, "Access Developer" wrote:
If you're really desparate, there are various add-ins that show the classic
menu http://www.addintools.com/index.html is one link, but I agree with Larry
- keep up

Phil

On Apr 26, 1:04*am, "Phil" <p... (AT) stantonfamily (DOT) co.uk> wrote:
No retro-menu capability -- got it. I'll schedule some time in the lab
and practice with the ribbon.

I won't argue with the "keep up" philosophy, but life is full of
change, and you have to choose what to keep up with and what to fall
behind. It has been many years since Microsoft has done anything worth
keeping up with.

-TC

On Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:51:26 -0700 (PDT), TC
<existential.philosophy (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:


The tools for creating menu bars and tool bars no longer exits. So
there isn't a way create anything new unless you do it in 2003 and
import it. You can't create custom buttons, etc.. that call your own
code.

You might as well learn how to create ribbons in XML. It really isn't
that hard to learn, and I enjoy it more than the old way. Lots of
ribbon info here: http://www.accessribbons.com/

You would probably want to use an XML editor with Intellisense. I use
MS Visual Web Designer Express.

-paulw

"PW" <emailaddyinsig (AT) ifIremember (DOT) com> wrote

Surely you jest... on a 'short fuse' to present a workshop and he should try
to learn a new (and quite different, I might add) development language, and
create Ribbons with a "markup language (XML)" instead of a "procedural
language (VBA)"?

It's good advice for the long haul, but for the near-term, just learning the
basics of the new UI will keep him busy enough between now and the workshop
(which workshop isn't about menus or custom ribbons -- so time and enough
for dealing with that, later).

Larry Linson, Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-Author "Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions", pub by Wiley, 2010

On Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:51:26 -0700 (PDT), TC
<existential.philosophy (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

I forgot to say that the old style menus that are imported in 2010
will appear in the add-in tab of the ribbon, not in the ribbon itself.
They will work though.

-paulw

On Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:31:38 -0500, "Access Developer"
<accdevel (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:


Who said this? Am I misinterpreting it?

There are hoops you can jump through to make the Ribbon somewhat less
irritating, but if you are introducing users to the new version, you
really
should be teaching them the new version (hint: it does _not_ have an
"option" to "use classic menus"), Ribbon, Nav Pain, and new Dev
Environment
included.

The topic of the workshop is not developing menus or customizing ribbons...
it is about (see original post) "database design principles". If you read
my response I said nothing about educating everyone as developers, but
teaching the workshop on database design principles using the current
version. That can be done quite well using the standard Access 2010 UI and
ribbon (distasteful as those features may be to some of us, including me)

Almost all of my clients have refused to move to the new UI, which has meant
that they stayed in Access 2003 or earlier versions. Frankly, I cannot argue
with the merit of their decision -- but, in the OP's case, the company has
moved to a newer version, and teaching users of Access 2010 using Access
2003 makes no more sense than starting new users by launching them into
customization of the UI, using not only a new version of Access, but a new
(and differently-oriented) language, XML.

--
Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-Author, Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions, Wiley 2010

"PW" <emailaddyinsig (AT) ifIremember (DOT) com> wrote

On Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:26:17 -0500, "Access Developer"
<accdevel (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Ever tried it Larry?