Youtube has just lunched a new section on their website dedicated to learning! Existing Youtube videos from colleges and universities as well as other generally educational videos are being indexed here. This is an easy way to find many great tutorials, including the one shared below that can help demystify the new look of Microsoft Office 2007.
What is the name of the new design?
The “Ribbon” is the name given to Microsoft’s new interface design. Love it or hate it this new ribbon design is a radical departure from the menu driven interfaces of days gone by.
Why was it changed?
This new interface was created to help users of the office suite find the functions they need quickly and to hide functions that are unlikely to be needed right away. The ribbon achieves this by being contextually aware. Depending on the users actions the ribbon displays different tabs that have functions and controls commonly associated with the user’s current action. Expert users of the ribbon should be able to work more quickly than with previous office versions.
How does it work?
When a user first enters the Word program the Home tabs is being displayed. The Home tab contains many common editing and formating tasks that a user may need to carry out during the writing of a document. When a user takes a different action like inserting a picture the ribbon responds by automatically changing to the Format tab. Check the link below to see this in action.
Check out this short tutorial posted in the new educational section of Youtube.
Tags: microsoft office, understanding