Video on Microsoft's New User Interface (UI) Code Name: Ribbon

What's a new Office user interface got to do with digital media? It would be a natural extension of uniformity if they brought it over to all their products. Will Windows Media be next? Maybe, maybe not. But either way - if you're developing in the next 6 months before Microsoft upgrades in 2006, you may wish to get an idea about what Code Name: Ribbon is all about, and perhaps use some of these techniques in your layout and UI design.

Bottom Line - the new UI is easy to use and that's great news. It's taken awhile for them to do this and that's a shame, but finally! It may not be as simple or uniform as the Mac, but it looks like a very good revamp. This will impact so many people, as they have to spend a week or so learning the new user interfaces. I think it'll be worth the effort.

Here's the explanation and a few glimpses of the New User Interface for the next Office version. If I remember correctly about 7 minutes into it, you'll see the Word interface if that's of interest. PowerPoint visuals are shown at around 17 minutes. In my opinion, it is much better than the existing user interface in all regards. I couldn't tell if Outlook was revitalized. I know a new version of OneNote is in the works, and not soon enough for those of us who are addicted to it. It's a great program for dropping graphics, text, audio, video into a folder and later finding them.

The New Interface is such that all drop down menus/levels as you know them today. are deleted.

This is an interview with MS employee Julie Larsen in the Office area for Microsoft. The code name for the new navigation bar at the top is called the Ribbon. They are estimating it'll take 2 weeks for the average person to get used to the new UI.

It's worth considering as you develop new interfaces that may embed or play audio and video. You may find some ideas that will help you develop skins, web pages, special effects, with an easy to use interface that people will come familiar with very soon. If you're manipulating audio and video, you could use some of the techniques of the UI to manage transcriptions, perhaps search, or add your own multi camera viewpoints.

http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=114720