Ribbon Development (“Why the Interface, Part 1)

This is the first article in the series in which I will point out some reasons that prompted us to make a decision about creating a new user interface in the 2007 Office.



Any discussion about the graphical interfaces of modern computers has its roots in the Xerox Research Center in Palo Alto (PARC) in the 1970s. To work on Alto computers, and then Star , an amazing, and ultimately influenced the course of computer history, a company of researchers gathered. A significant number of technologies and concepts that are now universally applied were first developed in PARC: WYSIWYG (you get what you see), use of a mouse, desktop metaphor (including folders and icons), overlapping windows, a network, laser printers and controls that now make up the user interface: menu, scroll bars, edit controls, checkboxes. This picture gives an idea of ​​how the Star user interface looked. (Some annoying shortcomings of this system, such as the need to click an inactive window in order to redraw itself, are mostly forgotten today).


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Star was commercially unsuccessful, and today many people involved in the history of technology indicate that Xerox has done little to protect the intellectual property it has created. As a result, many today think that Xerox is just a manufacturer of copy machines, not knowing the key role that PARC played in the development of a modern user interface.

Many people who have come up with ideas embodied in Star have moved to other companies, especially Microsoft and Apple. Apple first borrowed and expanded these ideas, first in the failed high-end system Lisa , and then in the Macintosh . Lisa has standardized some concepts that are still used in many modern interfaces: the top menus, marking the selected options in the menu and dimming those that are not currently available, etc. (Not all changes were for the better - some ideas were abandoned by Apple, for example, such as proportional scroll bars (sliders?) And were practically not used until the release of Windows 95 ). If you are interested in more detail, with screenshots, look at the site of Jeremy Reimer .

Released after Liza, Mackintosh inherited a lot from her and Star, and is still developing under the same brand. Microsoft worked with Apple's early prototypes to develop Word 1.0 , which was shipped in 1984 with the original Macintosh. Multiplan and Chart also developed for the 512K Macintosh , and eventually merged into a single product in 1985 called Microsoft Excel 1.0 : the first blockbuster program for Macintosh (as well as the reason many people bought the first Macintosh). You can see the images of Microsoft's early office applications in the 1984 Apple Advertising.

Thus, the roots of the early office grow from Macintosh, and the interface, of course, reflected this. As the largest supplier of software for Apple (the title that Microsoft still holds (2007)), some of the user interface design solutions in the first Macintosh were made due to the needs of Microsoft developers. Although the degree of influence of the MC on the Macintosh interface can vary greatly depending on the point of view, we can safely say that the programs were developed with a deep understanding of the system, and the system with a deep understanding of the programs. Undoubtedly, the legs of the Office user interface (especially the use of the top menus) are growing from the very first version under Macintosh.

In the next article, we will visit the “Dusty Museum of the Past Office” and look at the development of the Vord for Windows over time.

PS author of articles Jensen Harris, his blog .