Although it is stated that a ribbon does not take more screen room than the 
old standard (2- or 3 actually) toolbars in previous Office versions, 
nowadays with widescreen any ribbon-bar or toolbar takes room where the users 
mostly need it: vertically.

There are three reasons for having the possibility of moving the ribbon 
aside (left or right):
1. when editing Word documents, spreadsheets that run on many rows/few 
columns, email messages, tables with many rows, and the like, the user wants 
as more vertical space available as possible
2. the spreading of widescreens in desktop PC and mostly notebooks (or 
netbooks with limited resolutions) changes the percentage of horizontale vs 
vertical room availability for the user interface - it is useless to have a 
document full-width, if I see only one-third of its vertical height at a time 
on the screen, to have the full view the zoom would be poor and not readable, 
having the ribbon on the side would improve this case
3. one difficulty most users encounter(ed) when changing from old-style 
menus to the ribbon interface is that they were used to select a menu, and 
then find the menu item they are looking for vertically (top to bottom among 
the items of the selected menu): moving the ribbon on the side (with a fixed 
width, of course) would benefit from both the innovative visual style of the 
ribbon, and single items (or ribbon sections) set in a vertical setting, top 
to bottom

I suggest having the possibility of both left side or right side for the 
"vertical ribbons", so that left-hand and right-hand users (with different 
preferences of brain side to have focus on (main content/document vs 
toolbars/commands)) can choose what fits them better

PS I really believe this upate would be a great benefit. I would like to be 
acknowledged for this suggestion, if accepted :-)

Luca Santillo
Italy

----------------
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"LSantillo" <LSantillo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:2CD30E94-4C42-49C9-915F-8324B4DDDC65@microsoft.com...
> Although it is stated that a ribbon does not take more screen room than 
> the
> old standard (2- or 3 actually) toolbars in previous Office versions,
> nowadays with widescreen any ribbon-bar or toolbar takes room where the 
> users
> mostly need it: vertically.
>
>

Then minimize the ribbon. The tabs still show and just expand when they are 
clicked on - QED! 

"LSantillo" <LSantillo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:2CD30E94-4C42-49C9-915F-8324B4DDDC65@microsoft.com...
> Although it is stated that a ribbon does not take more screen room than 
> the
> old standard (2- or 3 actually) toolbars in previous Office versions,
> nowadays with widescreen any ribbon-bar or toolbar takes room where the 
> users
> mostly need it: vertically.
>
> There are three reasons for having the possibility of moving the ribbon
> aside (left or right):
> 1. when editing Word documents, spreadsheets that run on many rows/few
> columns, email messages, tables with many rows, and the like, the user 
> wants
> as more vertical space available as possible
> 2. the spreading of widescreens in desktop PC and mostly notebooks (or
> netbooks with limited resolutions) changes the percentage of horizontale 
> vs
> vertical room availability for the user interface - it is useless to have 
> a
> document full-width, if I see only one-third of its vertical height at a 
> time
> on the screen, to have the full view the zoom would be poor and not 
> readable,
> having the ribbon on the side would improve this case
> 3. one difficulty most users encounter(ed) when changing from old-style
> menus to the ribbon interface is that they were used to select a menu, and
> then find the menu item they are looking for vertically (top to bottom 
> among
> the items of the selected menu): moving the ribbon on the side (with a 
> fixed
> width, of course) would benefit from both the innovative visual style of 
> the
> ribbon, and single items (or ribbon sections) set in a vertical setting, 
> top
> to bottom
>
> I suggest having the possibility of both left side or right side for the
> "vertical ribbons", so that left-hand and right-hand users (with different
> preferences of brain side to have focus on (main content/document vs
> toolbars/commands)) can choose what fits them better
>
> PS I really believe this upate would be a great benefit. I would like to 
> be
> acknowledged for this suggestion, if accepted :-)
>
> Luca Santillo
> Italy

This makes a lot of sense to me. Personally, I hate the ribbons but if I 
have to have them, placing them on the side would be very beneficial. 

"Bogey Man" <spam@kwic.com> wrote in message 
news:#h$AQZCdKHA.5568@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
>
> "LSantillo" <LSantillo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
> news:2CD30E94-4C42-49C9-915F-8324B4DDDC65@microsoft.com...
>> Although it is stated that a ribbon does not take more screen room than 
>> the
>> old standard (2- or 3 actually) toolbars in previous Office versions,
>> nowadays with widescreen any ribbon-bar or toolbar takes room where the 
>> users
>> mostly need it: vertically.
>>
>> There are three reasons for having the possibility of moving the ribbon
>> aside (left or right):
>> 1. when editing Word documents, spreadsheets that run on many rows/few
>> columns, email messages, tables with many rows, and the like, the user 
>> wants
>> as more vertical space available as possible
>> 2. the spreading of widescreens in desktop PC and mostly notebooks (or
>> netbooks with limited resolutions) changes the percentage of horizontale 
>> vs
>> vertical room availability for the user interface - it is useless to have 
>> a
>> document full-width, if I see only one-third of its vertical height at a 
>> time
>> on the screen, to have the full view the zoom would be poor and not 
>> readable,
>> having the ribbon on the side would improve this case
>> 3. one difficulty most users encounter(ed) when changing from old-style
>> menus to the ribbon interface is that they were used to select a menu, 
>> and
>> then find the menu item they are looking for vertically (top to bottom 
>> among
>> the items of the selected menu): moving the ribbon on the side (with a 
>> fixed
>> width, of course) would benefit from both the innovative visual style of 
>> the
>> ribbon, and single items (or ribbon sections) set in a vertical setting, 
>> top
>> to bottom
>>
>> I suggest having the possibility of both left side or right side for the
>> "vertical ribbons", so that left-hand and right-hand users (with 
>> different
>> preferences of brain side to have focus on (main content/document vs
>> toolbars/commands)) can choose what fits them better
>>
>> PS I really believe this upate would be a great benefit. I would like to 
>> be
>> acknowledged for this suggestion, if accepted :-)
>>
>> Luca Santillo
>> Italy
>
> This makes a lot of sense to me. Personally, I hate the ribbons but if I 
> have to have them, placing them on the side would be very beneficial.

You do know you can minimize the ribbon? 

"Gordon" <gordonbparker@yahoo.com> wrote in message 
news:#ccXH$CdKHA.4724@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> "Bogey Man" <spam@kwic.com> wrote in message 
> news:#h$AQZCdKHA.5568@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>>
>> "LSantillo" <LSantillo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
>> news:2CD30E94-4C42-49C9-915F-8324B4DDDC65@microsoft.com...
>>> Although it is stated that a ribbon does not take more screen room than 
>>> the
>>> old standard (2- or 3 actually) toolbars in previous Office versions,
>>> nowadays with widescreen any ribbon-bar or toolbar takes room where the 
>>> users
>>> mostly need it: vertically.
>>>
>>> There are three reasons for having the possibility of moving the ribbon
>>> aside (left or right):
>>> 1. when editing Word documents, spreadsheets that run on many rows/few
>>> columns, email messages, tables with many rows, and the like, the user 
>>> wants
>>> as more vertical space available as possible
>>> 2. the spreading of widescreens in desktop PC and mostly notebooks (or
>>> netbooks with limited resolutions) changes the percentage of horizontale 
>>> vs
>>> vertical room availability for the user interface - it is useless to 
>>> have a
>>> document full-width, if I see only one-third of its vertical height at a 
>>> time
>>> on the screen, to have the full view the zoom would be poor and not 
>>> readable,
>>> having the ribbon on the side would improve this case
>>> 3. one difficulty most users encounter(ed) when changing from old-style
>>> menus to the ribbon interface is that they were used to select a menu, 
>>> and
>>> then find the menu item they are looking for vertically (top to bottom 
>>> among
>>> the items of the selected menu): moving the ribbon on the side (with a 
>>> fixed
>>> width, of course) would benefit from both the innovative visual style of 
>>> the
>>> ribbon, and single items (or ribbon sections) set in a vertical setting, 
>>> top
>>> to bottom
>>>
>>> I suggest having the possibility of both left side or right side for the
>>> "vertical ribbons", so that left-hand and right-hand users (with 
>>> different
>>> preferences of brain side to have focus on (main content/document vs
>>> toolbars/commands)) can choose what fits them better
>>>
>>> PS I really believe this upate would be a great benefit. I would like to 
>>> be
>>> acknowledged for this suggestion, if accepted :-)
>>>
>>> Luca Santillo
>>> Italy
>>
>> This makes a lot of sense to me. Personally, I hate the ribbons but if I 
>> have to have them, placing them on the side would be very beneficial.
>
> You do know you can minimize the ribbon?

Yes, I know that. Minimizing it doesn't mean that it is out of the way when 
you actually want to make use of the commands on the ribbon.

With most monitors being the wide variety these days, it just doesn't make 
sense to use valuable vertical space to display a large ribbon, even if you 
can minimize it when not in use.