Re:How the Web Became Unreadable
by js8 on Thursday October 20, 2016 @04:56AM
(#12750704)
> Why can't you customize ribbons?
Two reasons. First, you don't want to, just like you don't want to customize main menu. There should to be a place that has every option, which you cannot unintentionally mess up.
Second, ribbons are very carefully designed for looks, and it makes them hard to customize. I think it could be done, it's just not trivial.
So, for example, in MS Office, they don't bother with customization. If you want to look at how customizable software looked like in the past, look at for instance AMI Pro. You could redefine keyboard shortcuts and toolbars any way you liked.
And we are not even talking about software like Emacs, which can be customized very deeply.
I think some users would customize, it's very paternalistic to think that they wouldn't, and it would make them more productive. But it's just not in the fashion right now.
Two reasons. First, you don't want to, just like you don't want to customize main menu. There should to be a place that has every option, which you cannot unintentionally mess up.
Second, ribbons are very carefully designed for looks, and it makes them hard to customize. I think it could be done, it's just not trivial.
So, for example, in MS Office, they don't bother with customization. If you want to look at how customizable software looked like in the past, look at for instance AMI Pro. You could redefine keyboard shortcuts and toolbars any way you liked.
And we are not even talking about software like Emacs, which can be customized very deeply.
I think some users would customize, it's very paternalistic to think that they wouldn't, and it would make them more productive. But it's just not in the fashion right now.