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bash
August 20th, 2007, 10:56 AM
After someone started asking in this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=525964) what in OpenOffice needed fixing, I discovered that its not just me that thinks OOo needs a new interface, but also quite a lot of other people.

So I am curious of how people think that the interface should be changed/improved. Should it be an evolution of the current one with adjustments here and there. Or should it be a revolution with a completly new and unseen layout. Or should OOo just try to copy the MS Office 07 layout.

For me personally the problem with the interface is that for the eye candy perspective just looks plain and dull. It just looks like a clone of the old MS Office interfaces. But that is imo not the most important aspect. What is think is quite an issue is that I half the options I regularly use are hidden away behind 15 menues while the settings I never use, take up the space in the menu bars. MS Office 07 demonstrated in that regard that it also possible to make the features the user need accessible quickly.

Another thing that bugs me is that if you click on an image, the image toolbar gets added to the top of your "screen". But instead that page you are editing would stay the same it moves down. Which is quite annoing if everything hops around the whole time.

These are just my thougths. Wondering what other people think

jkblacker
August 20th, 2007, 11:03 AM
Certainly not a clone of Office 07 - for a start, the whole ribbon shebang will probably be protected by a slew of patents that it just wouldn't be in Sun's interests to go anywhere near infringing.

The fact is, as it is Oo mostly works just fine. I voted for a few tweaks because it's not perfect but doesn't need a radical overhaul.

miggols99
August 20th, 2007, 11:08 AM
I think that things like the shapes/lines etc. need to be anti aliased. It looks unprofessional, especially in presentations. Please don't copy the Office 2007 layout. I hate it.

Martje_001
August 20th, 2007, 11:09 AM
The interface is fine.. maby some other colors and icons.

Spr0k3t
August 20th, 2007, 12:06 PM
The visible level of OOo is perfect... I wouldn't change much. However, I always welcome change if the change is good.

The method of configuration and right-click menus needs attention. Granted there are many similarities between the applications of the OOo suite, but there are some components of configuration that only go with one or two of the applications. These need to be set into individual application controls somehow. Some of the layout of MS Office pre 2007 has some good points that should be followed. The print features are clustered into an area on the file menu, where in OOo they are scattered throughout the system.

The view menu has an option for toolbars which is good... but why not add the ability to right-click a blank spot on the toolbar area to add more if you need them.

Something I don't want to see happen to OOo, the "Ribbon" interface commonly found in MS Office 2007... what a nightmare! My employer uses Office 2007 and has removed the ability to launch OOo from a USB key. So unless I bring in my personal laptop, I'm stuck using the latest trash from MS. I've been forced to use it for six months and I hate it more and more each day.

Tom Mann
August 20th, 2007, 12:31 PM
I think the new Koffice should be watched, and something along them lines brought into the fold.

Dark Star
August 20th, 2007, 12:32 PM
Changing whole interface won't be good idea .. But little /better placement and easy navigation would be gr8 :D OOO FTW :D:guitar:

flossgeek
August 20th, 2007, 12:39 PM
Open Office Interface is fine, yes it is a replica of Microsoft Offices UI in many cases. This isn't a bad thing, we must accept that a very large % of users use Microsoft office so giving them a transition which is similar helps the new user pick it up easily.

Now Office 2007 has been released with its new interface, from what I can see it is an annoyance as Microsoft office users will have to retrain in companies, and relearn everything again.

So what I'm saying is the interface at present on Ooo is a BENEFIT as it could make people use open office instead of buying into 2007.

If anything needs improving it ain't the U.I, but the speed of the application on load, back end stuff like better macro programming support in calc for example.

:KS

Alex Fernandez
August 20th, 2007, 12:40 PM
An interface that looks good, like KOffice :P

OOo should move away from Java to C++ and Qt

jomiolto
August 20th, 2007, 12:40 PM
Well, I wouldn't mind it terribly if they came up with a new user interface, especially if it was somehow better than the current one, but I don't really see anything wrong with the current interface either -- not that I'm really such a power user, and I don't actually use much more than the basic formatting functions.

So, no, I don't think it really needs a new user interface, but of course if someone came up with a really improved and better one, it might attract more people to use OOo and that would be great thing in so many ways (especially for ODF support).

popch
August 20th, 2007, 02:55 PM
Would a pluggable interface be possible?

I think that there are quite a few people 'out there' who would find it very confusing if the user interface in their home machines looked radically different from the one at the office. There are enough users who do not enjoy learning to use yet another office GUI every half year or so, no matter how ergonoically advanced and esthetically pleasing the new one might be.

In fact, I think that the current OO GUI which resembles Office 2000, XP and 2003, could contribute to a growing market share for those people who do not want to use the new MS Office GUI.

kerry_s
August 20th, 2007, 03:04 PM
i just wish they would separate there applications better, down grade the bloat. some people don't need all that stuff. i would just like writer and impress, maybe not even writer since i'm getting pretty use to abiword. but just installing impress should not be 200+mb of bloat, i'd rather do with out. they should have smaller stand alone options. :mad:

vexorian
August 20th, 2007, 03:11 PM
all my friends hate ribbons, I luckily have not used office 07 yet.

FuturePilot
August 20th, 2007, 04:22 PM
For the most part it's fine the way it is. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to tweak it just a little.

Mr. Picklesworth
August 20th, 2007, 04:40 PM
Being a duplicate of MS Office's UI is not a good thing when that version of MS Office being duped is dated and ugly. I will leave it at that, since I have said enough in the thread linked to from here...

Edit:
Ah, heck:

Right now it is practically a clone of Microsoft Office's horrid interface of many years ago (before they made it decent), and that, I think, is a shame.
Particularly the Options menu. Just look at that thing, try to find something in there and try to explain the difference between Options and Customize. Oh, and check out the View options, which contain all sorts of technical details like "Use OpenGL", "Use dithering", "Use hardware acceleration", right beside options that actual humans do need. The Memory options, too: number of undo steps, graphics cache size (?!!), memory per object, number of objects to store in that cache (which seems quite redundant), the length of a TIMER to remove objects from memory, and below all that, an actually useful option that people should know about, to toggle the system tray quick-starter. Way too easy to screw things up by clicking the wrong button, and why is this stuff even exposed? This is the kind of thing every other program (even graphics-intensive games) has managed to keep unexposed for the sake of user-friendliness, because these are the kinds of things that should be determined automatically for a good user experience, and should Never have to be touched. If those options have to be touched, the program has failed anyway and should just quietly go away until it is fixed. Why should I have to be telling my word processor how to render graphics?! I don't even need to tell this kind of stuff to Compiz, and it has worked well everywhere I have put it.
Now, tell me that the user interface (or at least that very important chunk of it) does not need a full revision.
Hell, not even the help file can guide me through the options. Every time it tells me to go in there I am terrified, because I know it will take at least five minutes to find what I want even with its "help"!

How about separate, integrated tools for different stages in document creation? For example, the content tool, the publishing tool (extra formatting and advanced printing), and the Editor tool (spell / grammar check). Integrated well, it could be really natural and it would keep a lot of gunk out of the interface by making it very task-oriented. It would also ensure that changes to content do not break formatting, which is something way too common with people and word processors. Those individual tools could even become optional components with other types of OO documents, as well, making a really interesting suite. By optional, I mean that, for example, one would only be using the publishing tool if he was doing something fancy like a pamphlet. Otherwise, he could skip that step.


In other words, I really like OO, but I think it badly needs a facelift. (Particularly in Gnome. Am I the only one who sees ugly, out of place oddities occurring in its ui on all three systems I have run it with?)
I am sure it had reasons for being so heavily "inspired" by MS Office (starting off small, undoubtedly), but at this point the program has gained a lot of traction and attention. It is time that OpenOffice had a look of its own, and I think the people working on it are more than capable of achieving that.

Luffield
August 20th, 2007, 04:43 PM
Certainly not a clone of Office 07 - for a start, the whole ribbon shebang will probably be protected by a slew of patents that it just wouldn't be in Sun's interests to go anywhere near infringing.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Microsoft declared that they have no intention to sue anyone who wants to release programs with the ribbon interface. I think it makes sense, they are committed to this interface and they will only benefit from not being the only ones who use it.

Personally I tired Office 2007 at work and reverted back to Office 2003 after two weeks, I just couldn't stand the ribbon interface. I'm pretty happy with OOo's interface as it is.

laxmanb
August 20th, 2007, 04:51 PM
that Office 2007 Interface is patented - MS will sue if OpenOffice.org copies it.

And here's what I think OOo needs:
a. Speed (not very important tho)
b. Better looking document creation - And better style support!!
c. They could copy small parts of the office 2007 interface: some context specific commands when you click on stuff

A radically diff interface just means retraining a lot of people...

smartboyathome
August 20th, 2007, 05:20 PM
An interface that looks good, like KOffice :P

OOo should move away from Java to C++ and Qt

If they did this, I would say goodbye to it. Reason is that you need to install some of Kubuntu just to use it, and it won't look very good in GNOME/XFCE (just KDE).

forrestcupp
August 20th, 2007, 05:38 PM
I think what they really need is a lot of professional looking templates and wizards to quickly create nice looking forms, letters, documents, etc. That's one area no one has spent a lot of time on, and that's one area that MS Office excels in.

bread eyes
August 20th, 2007, 05:39 PM
Being able to edit context menus would be nice but that's about it. Also, I doubt they will get a patent on the ribbon thing, it has been used in games for years.

Depressed Man
August 20th, 2007, 06:44 PM
I personally can't stand the ribbon interface. But that's just my opinion. Though what I would love is a customizable interface. So I can remove all the stuff I don't use and leave what I do use. Being able to place and move the toolbars and menu items anywhere.

Or even have them floating around (though that may get annoying). But it would be nice to have them summonable with a hotkey. So I can set it to come and go as I need it.

dustrho
August 20th, 2007, 07:36 PM
The ribbon interface flat out sucks. Glad I don't use MS Office much anymore.

I really don't care how the applications look, but one of the things that bothers me the most is pasting in text from a previous MS document. I always have to do the Paste Special command and then choose unformatted text, because if I don't the already existing text, fonts and headers will drastically change for the worst. I end up losing all my existing formatting, but thankfully if I do that by accident I have the lucky Ctrl-Z command (undo).

Functionality matters much more to me than eye candy, and that's where Sun should focus their attention IMO.

Luffield
August 20th, 2007, 08:08 PM
that Office 2007 Interface is patented - MS will sue if OpenOffice.org copies it.

Turns out you're right. Quoting Microsoft's Jensen Harris (http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/11/21/licensing-the-2007-microsoft-office-user-interface.aspx):

Today, we're announcing a licensing program for the 2007 Microsoft Office system user interface which allows virtually anyone to obtain a royalty-free license to use the new Office UI in a software product, including the Ribbon, galleries, the Mini Toolbar, and the rest of the user interface.
but:

There's only one limitation: if you are building a program which directly competes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Access (the Microsoft applications with the new UI), you can't obtain the royalty-free license.

popch
August 20th, 2007, 08:20 PM
There's only one limitation: if you are building a program which directly competes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Access (the Microsoft applications with the new UI), you can't obtain the royalty-free license.


That means that Open Office can use that interface in the Linux and OS X versions since MS explicitly abstains from porting MS Office to those environments?

macogw
August 20th, 2007, 08:35 PM
No, not really. I'd hate to see it switch to some crazy new interface like MS Office did. Office2k7 is impossible to navigate.

Mach1US
August 20th, 2007, 09:00 PM
Mostly it needs some polishing and detail work.

peterroots
June 17th, 2008, 06:10 PM
don't whatever you do copy the ms2007 interface - so many windows users I have seen struggle to use it but those that have tried ooo seem to manage quite well on it.
Does new eye candy mean better usability/better functionality? I doubt it!
Stick to fixing things that need fixing or adding functions people want not on redecoration.

hessiess
June 17th, 2008, 06:16 PM
the interface is fine as it is, eyecandy is a waste of prosessing power, and makes everything look *more* ugly.

bufsabre666
June 17th, 2008, 06:32 PM
a few tweaks, like make the prefs and context menus look more like the rest of the program, right now they look plucked from ms office 98 ((which i still have and use on an older computer))

rudihawk
June 17th, 2008, 06:55 PM
I think its perfect as it is...

Changturkey
June 17th, 2008, 08:07 PM
Little tweaks in this case are better than total unrecognizable change.

JeyPeyy
November 4th, 2009, 08:42 PM
Old thread, but still interesting.

I have recently tried Kword 2.x out, and I really like the interface. It's easy to learn, easy to find stuff and very functional. The problem with KWord is that it's unstable (it crashes really often for me).

I think it would be awesome if Ooo writer more or less used that interface. No need to copy 100%, but they could get inspired.

The best thing would be if the kword interface was used by a C/C++ GTK+ application, but I guess I should be happy if OOo implements the kword-interface even if they use their current widgets.

BrokenKingpin
November 4th, 2009, 08:48 PM
It could use a few things here and there, but overall I think it is decent. The last thing I want is an MS Office 2007 interface... I can't stand it.

omar8
November 4th, 2009, 09:04 PM
Wait, what is with the hate for the ribbon interface? At work it was installed alongside Word 2003 and nobody uses 2003 any more. Everybody I have ever met has preferred the new interface. I personally don't think OOo should simply clone it but the ribbon interface is far superior to the old interface.
Ribbon takes up far less vertical space than the old method, is easier to navigate (granted this takes a few hours of use), more functions are present to the user and can be navigated much more quickly by just the keyboard.

zekopeko
November 4th, 2009, 09:05 PM
It could use a few things here and there, but overall I think it is decent. The last thing I want is an MS Office 2007 interface... I can't stand it.

Have you actually used it? It's superb. Easy and intuitive.

Xbehave
November 4th, 2009, 09:16 PM
Have you actually used it? It's superb. Easy and intuitive.
Hae you actually used it to do real stuff? It's great for everyday stuff bold/italics/etc but whenever you try and do something outside of the norm (but still needed when working with office, e.g apply changes from a master slide to the current slide), it's not at all obvious where the setting is/should be. IMO a menu button (firefox personal menu style)/hidable menu (kde style), is needed under any ribbon scheme so when you aren't sure where an option is it will be easy to find through the menu.