Some line had to be drawn at which features were used most often; those that their user data said were used less frequently were the ones that were moved to other tabs (i.e, not the "Home" tab).
BTW, the "auto-fit" option is on the "Home" tab in Excel 2007; it's in the "Cells" group, under the "Format" button.
There is no "algorithm" in the ribbon, unlike in earlier (menu driven!) versions of Office.
Unlike the menus in, say, Office XP or Office 2003, where some items were "hidden" until you used them, in the ribbon EVERYTHING is there. It doesn't try to "adapt" to you. Sure, you have to re-learn where a lot of stuff is, but that was often the case before the ribbon came out as well (because more features kept getting squeezed into a menu-driven UI that just wasn't made for a program with that many options).
The only thing that changes in the ribbon are some contextual tabs that show up at the end, e.g., when you have selected a picture or a table. These tabs are meaningless normally, so they are hidden. But they don't re-arrange themselves based on your usage patterns - they are static and don't change.
Well.. yes, and no. Bob and Clippy were certainly the result of research I'm sure, but not the kind of research that went into the ribbon.
The ribbon was built using feedback from that program in Office which started in... Office XP I think
The link you are probably looking for is this one:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/11/10/the-office-2007-ui-bible.aspx
It's a link to Jensen Harris's Office 2007 blog, where he collects all the articles he wrote about the Office 2007 UI (the "ribbon"), explains WHY it is the way it is, provides (IMHO) rather insightful comparisons against the old menu & toolbar paradigm, and generally does a good job of explaining why they chose the ribbon over the "status quo" of toolbars and menus.
That said, a ribbon-based UI is not always the answer - like toolbars and menus, it can be abused by people who don't think UI design through carefully enough, but it is a clever and intuitive answer to "option overload."
Every last one of you honestly believes that downloading Angels and Demons is exactly the same thing as refusing to give up your seat on a bus because of the color of your skin? Honestly? HONESTLY?
No, that's what we call an ANALOGY, or for the nitpicky among us, a SIMILE. Even though the poster did say "exactly like," its clear from context that they were not speaking literally. No need to get so worked up about it. (Unless, y'know, you enjoy getting worked up like that.)
Incidentally, they also own the land.
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
Nicely done.
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After all, "our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.""Without change, we are going to consume more and more energy. As supply dwindles, and as demand increases, economic pressure will push us to consume every last bit of energy possible — and to hell with the consequences...
But we must change. It's not going to be painless — let's get that right out in the open right now. It's going to hurt. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. That's the way change is. And like most major paradigm-shifting changes, you can't really see how things are going to be until you're on the other side — and so will it be with this change. We don't know what the future will bring, or even what it will be like. But we know we have to make the change. Because we do know what the future will be like if we don't change.
It is not going to be easy. But it will be good.
For God's sake, stop researching for a while and begin to think!
