Size Does Matter

In a recent post on the Microsoft Weblog I discussed the aversion I had to Microsoft’s Live Mail due to the sheer size of the wasted space in the header area of the page.

That same attention to application control space is going to be an important aspect for me as I begin to see the final versions of the new ribbon functionality in Office 2007.

In true Dragnet style, Jensen Harris provides us with “just the facts” regarding the actual size of the new interface objects in the new Office suite.

One of the tricky things about measuring the size of the Office user interface is figuring out what to measure. The size of the Office 97-2003 user interface, in particular, is greatly affected by the number of toolbars and Task Panes brought up to use the features in the product.

To sidestep that problem for the time being, I’m going to compare the out-of-box experiences of Office 97 and Office 2007. Why these two versions? First of all, Office 97 was the first version of Office with command bars, and it’s the version often cited as representing a cleaner, smaller brand of UI. It’s also before the introduction of Task Panes, so we don’t have to take that into account. Also, it was (and is) an extremely successful version of Office which many people have installed, so it seems like a good comparison.

[Side Note: He shared a fact in the post that less than 2% of Office 2003 users modify their workspace from the original out-of-the-box settings. That's AMAZING! What do these people do with a new car? I don't know about you but whenever I get in a car I've never been in, I'm always looking for what's new and different than my car and tweaking all the adjustments. Keep that in mind if you ever let me borrow your car.]

Here’s a quick snap shot of the main window results:

• Word 97 document area: 979 x 573 pixels
• Word 2007 document area: 1007 x 573 pixels
• Word 97 Lines of text: 26 lines of text (Arial 10pt, Page Layout View)
• Word 2007 Lines of text: 26 lines of text (Arial 10pt, Page Layout View)
• Excel 97 document area: 1004 x 581 pixels
• Excel 2007 document area: 1008 x 534 pixels
• Excel 97: 31 rows, 15 columns
• Excel 2007: 30 rows, 15 columns
• PowerPoint 97 document area: 1008 x 575 pixels
• PowerPoint 2007 document area: 1024 x 573
• PowerPoint 97: 76% zoom
• PowerPoint 2007: 76% zoom

Jensen Harris continually impresses me with his ability to share and present his thoughts and knowledge of the Office interface with the public. If you’re at all interested in hearing and understanding more details about the comparison in size use between Office 97 and Office 2007, I greatly encourage you to read the entire post, which includes some great screen shots.

Source: The Size of Things by Jensen Harris