I’d like to point out the following article from one of the Office 2007 team members about carefully placing the UI elements in the latest version of Office. The placement follows a rule called Fitts Law a mathematical model of how users click on things:

The Start button in Windows is seemingly located in an ideal place for fast acquisition, and in recent versions of Windows that’s certainly true. Prior to Windows 2000, however, the Start button had a single “dead” pixel along the left and bottom sides of it in which clicking didn’t open the Start menu. The result: slower acquisition times and a startling number of missed clicks.

Windows 95: Missed by a pixel
Windows XP: Good to the last drop

It’s wonderful to know that Microsoft is actually paying a great deal of attention to little details in their user-interface. We all know that the Office 2007 ribbon is a great, time-saving idea, but this is new ground. Besides the technical interest, it’s a great PR move. Now, Microsoft consumers all know that it cares as much about user experience, design, details, etc as does a company like Apple. This is exactly what a corporate blog should do!

blog comments powered by Disqus