Please make MS Word simpler

[Guest]

I've been using MS Word since Word 5.0 in the DOS days. Word for Windows was
a huge improvement, but since then, the program's basic features have
stagnated. At this point, the program is bloated and incredibly difficult to
use: changing borders on tables, placing photos in a document layout, or even
just changing paragraph spacing are all much, much more difficult than they
need to be. The computing world has moved forward; it's time for Word to do
the same. The next "innovations" in Word aren't about groupware, automation,
or the Internet. They're about making my daily tasks of creating basic
documents easier.


----------------
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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...87face&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Haven't you already posted this suggestion (verbatim) once before? By
reposting it, you're just splitting the number of votes each individual
suggestion will get.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

I've been using MS Word since Word 5.0 in the DOS days. Word for Windows was
a huge improvement, but since then, the program's basic features have
stagnated. At this point, the program is bloated and incredibly difficult to
use: changing borders on tables, placing photos in a document layout, or even
just changing paragraph spacing are all much, much more difficult than they
need to be. The computing world has moved forward; it's time for Word to do
the same. The next "innovations" in Word aren't about groupware, automation,
or the Internet. They're about making my daily tasks of creating basic
documents easier.


----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...87face&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Guest]

No chance that's it's a repeat on my part. I wrote the post today, and
posted it for the first time today. If someone else had the same thought
(though I doubt verbatim), then perhaps it should be given extra
consideration.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Jeremy,

According to Bill Gates CEO Summit keynote today (19May05) one
of the focus items for Office 12 and other information
worker apps is to make things simpler to use/easier to find if
I recall correctly:
http://microsoft.com/events/executives/billgates.mspx

=========
No chance that's it's a repeat on my part. I wrote the post today, and
posted it for the first time today. If someone else had the same thought
(though I doubt verbatim), then perhaps it should be given extra
consideration. >>
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 Editions explained
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx

 

[Guest]

So you are saying the need to place a photo/graphic in a Frame in previous
versions of Word was easier than simply inserting a photo/graphic in current
versions?? I’d say the past method contained way too many steps and it’s very
simple now.

And last I checked, how you modify table borders and paragraph spacing
really hasn't changed since the features were introduced.

Perhaps you aren't utilizing the simple methods provided?? If you could
provide us with descriptions of what you are trying to accomplish and the
steps you are using we can help you out.

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup. Email requests for assistance
can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/

 

[Guest]

Hi Beth,

The problem isn't that it's impossible to change borders or that I don't
know how to do it. The problem is that that doing things like changing
borders are far harder than they need to be. Add a row to the end of a
table, and the heavy bottom border often gets repeated. Not unfixable using
either dialog boxes or style sheets, but just very, very annoying. Placing
picures is also extremely frustrating. And I'm not talking just about
borders and pictures: There are at least 50 examples of this kind of problem.

My point is not that Word can't do these things correctly; clearly it can.
It's just that, exactly as you said, many features have not been changed
since they were introduced. And people who know Word well are probably the
worst people to evaluate my "make things easier" suggestion, as those
super-users probably don't suffer Word pains the way the "average" user does.

Like a dusty carpet, Word needs to be hung out the window and given a good
shake. Many things in Word are done simply because that's the way they've
been done for 10 years. But computing has changed a lot in the last 10
years, and people's expectations of easy-to-use interfaces have also changed.
I acknowledge that Word is the market leader and that "legacy" support is
important, but that does not mean that a wholesale review of how common
features work is not appropriate. As I said in my original post, Word needs
to innovate, but not along the lines of groupware or that other stuff that
Office 12 promises. Instead, it needs to take a fundamental look at its core
interface and make itself far, far easier to use.

 

[Guest]

A year later, after the post I am replying to was written, MS releases Office
2007 beta 2. MS Word is much improved, but I am not sure you can say it is
simplier. Lots of things in it are simplier, but there are many more buttons
that used to be hidden that are now always out.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The idea was to make features more "discoverable" in Word 2007 but not to
overwhelm you with all of them at once, just to make available those you can
use in whatever you're currently doing.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

A year later, after the post I am replying to was written, MS releases Office
2007 beta 2. MS Word is much improved, but I am not sure you can say it is
simplier. Lots of things in it are simplier, but there are many more buttons
that used to be hidden that are now always out.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...87face&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Guest]

Just last week, I was again stunned by the awful-ness of Word, as I was
trying to interleave numbered and unnumbered paragraphs. Word kept messing
up the indents, numbering where it wasn't supposed to, etc etc etc, all
because nobody at Microsoft has sat down to think about how to redo
autonumbering for the 21st century. As it is, the feature is almost exactly
the same as it was 10 years ago (!) in Word '97.

I suppose the Office 12 proof will be in the pudding, but I'm not too
hopeful. Word is an old product that needs a total revamp. But a complete
lack of competition in the productivity package arena makes that highly
improbabe; I can only hope that the new Lotus apps, online software, and
other innovations give Microsoft enough of a scare that they'll make some
changes. At the very least, they could introduce a "Word Express" similar to
Outlook Express... enough features for most users, while keeping the legacy
product for those who want/need to use it.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Numbering is one of the issues that I know for a fact was specifically
targeted in Word 2007.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.