(I'm not sure why I'm doing this - I resolved to leave this discussion
alone....lol)
The average user doesn't use Ctrl+I for Italic, they click a button. The
average user didn't discover the Customize dialog box and never knew they
could customize their environment. The average user would get toolbars
turned on didn't know how to turn them off. The average user didn't know how
to move a toolbar. Now, as a trainer, I have the mindset of providing more
focus on training which has been, and still is, my viewpoint. But there are
other aspects for me to consider as well, such as those providing the
training (there's some lousy trainers out there) and companies who don't
believe in training, as unfortunate as that might be.
The timesaving factors go a a little deeper than surface navigation. It's
more in the vein of faster document creation. Such as inserting an entire
page of content into a document that is perfectly formatted to the source
document with a couple clicks and later swap the page with another, again
with a few clicks of the mouse, without the need to delete the previously
inserted page. (Remember, most users like to 'click' and they want to
'click' on visual objects, not work from memorization.)
Consider this scenario for the average user. I have a document that needs to
be faxed electronically. My fax cover has a specific structure, it needs to
specific contain data used in the document, and it needs to match the
formatting, such as the fonts, used in the document. In Word 2007, in a few
clicks I can insert a report cover page (without navigating to the beginning
of the document), that satisfies each of my requirements. Then later, I can
remove the report cover, without the need to select and delete, or I can
swap the cover with a Fax cover page, again, without the need to select and
delete. Each cover page will also pick up my previously typed data.
Yes, the above could still be accomplished in previous versions but it would
also require VBA knowledge which means some type of developer would need to
be involved. Now, the average user can accomplish these tasks without the
need to invest in another party - even as a developer I find the new
functionality faster.
You can get an idea of what I'm referring to using these steps:
- Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click New
- In the Office Online Templates section, select the Reports category.
- Create a new document based on the Report (Median theme) template.
- Type a document title in the Content Control provided on the first page.
(You should see the placeholder text "Type the document title")
- In the other Content Controls provided, type a subtitle, company name, and
pick a date. (Each one will have placeholder text.)
- Take a look at page 2 and note the Title has been updated in the Header
and in the first heading, along with the subtitle. (Updated automatically
without using a macro. Additionally, you can change the data in any Content
Control.)
- On the Insert tab, click Cover Page, and in the Reports section (these are
included in the template), click Cover 4 to insert the cover page at the
beginning of the document.
- Note the Title, Subtitle, and Company, have been picked up from the
previously typed data.
- Select another cover page from the Report section, such as Fax Cover 2.
This action replaces Cover 4 in the document, the Company name is
automatically filled in, and additional Content Controls have been provided
for data entry and data selection. (Note that these can be locked for entry
only without protecting the document, deletion of the control can be
prevented, and the controls and document can be spell checked.)
- If you want different look for the document, on the Page Layout tab,
select another Theme and the document will update to the new fonts and
colors.
- Note the Building Blocks in the galleries also update to the new document
theme. (Granted, most are gaudy but you can create custom Themes that use a
specific company standard.)
Average users can create similar templates that function in the same maner
without the need to turn to VBA and spend time getting the right sequence of
commands.
Some background on how this works. The Title, Subtitle, and Company fields
are bound document property fields that also automatically update the file
Properties. Content Controls are XML-based and support data binding so all
of the data entered in the Fax page could potentially be bound to a data
source. From a developer's viewpoint, these are some exciting advancements.
From a user's viewpoint, in the end, creating documents takes less work and
there's the added aspect of visual document creation and little need for
memorization.
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook
Word FAQ:
http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine:
http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site:
http://mvps.org/
