Windows 7: Free Word 2010 Ribbon/Fluent UI Guide Available

A new resource available for download from Microsoft is designed to let customers upgrading from Office 2003 or earlier to Office 2010, get familiarized with the redesign of the look and feel of the Word components of the product. The Word 2010: Interactive menu to ribbon guide can be grabbed free of charge through the Microsoft Download Center, and as the label implies, users will get a “visual, interactive reference guide to help you find the new location of commands in Word 2010,” according to Microsoft. “Use this interactive tutorial to find the location of commands in Word 2010. The guide is a simulation of the old menu version of Word. Click a command in the guide to learn its new location in Word 2010.”



With the advent of Office 2007, Microsoft dramatically overhauled the graphical user interface for its productivity suite. The evolution of the new Ribbon/Fluent GUI continued with Office 2010, which brings to the table a perfected variant of the user interface, widening the gap between the new design and the old File menu that was the default in Office 2003 and earlier.

While Ribbon is immensely superior to the old Office UI, it takes a little time to get accustomed to it. As with everything new there’s a learning curve, but fact is that some users might not get over the initial shock of having to work with a completely overhauled UI. It’s human nature to seek as much comfort as possible, and while the Office 2003 UI might feel extremely comfortable the new users interface of Office 2010 will appear to be strange and extremely different.

lordbob, I just installed it on a test box I have here at work. It requires Silverlight, it gives you a virtual Word 2003 UI, you can then click on your familiar buttons to find how to perform the same actions in Word 2010.

Too bad there aren't any for other Office apps, if the company wanted to put Silverlight on everyone's PC we could push this as a help for the transition to Office 2010 from 2000..

Freedom of choice is one of the things that make this world a great place.

If someone really doesn't like new features on the new editions and can't find anything to change them to an older or specific style they like, then they have to accept/learn the new features or go back to the older versions. Sometimes that is the choice.

No matter what the software companies come up with a large group of users won't like it for some reason.
As users we have to accept changes, they are inevitable, but we don't have to like it.

If we didn't have change in our nature we would still be living in caves, so change is a good thing.

No offense intended to anyone that doesn't like change, it's just going to happen