SubscribeComputer woes
Part of the reason why it has been quiet on the RibbonCustomizer front is that the mainboard of my main computer (a good old Gigabyte mainboard with an AMD 64) died after years of faithful service. Unfortunately, replacing my computer with a brand-new Core i7 based machine became a nightmare on its own.
Used to the American Newegg, I had to find out that its most similar German equivalent Alternate symbolizes the “Servicewüste” (service desert) Germany has often been described as. My mistake was that I ordered correctly as the company I am, instead of as a consumer, as I in retrospect should have done with that online seller of computer hardware: As a consumer ordering from an online seller in Germany, one enjoys a legal right of return for any reason (including not liking it/not wanting it anymore) within 2 weeks of receiving it. On the other hand, the German lawmaker assumed that corporations are more informed market participants than consumers and hence did not grant them a similar right. However, this has not stopped many companies from extending a similar right to corporate customers, even for purchases not made online. Alternate, however, is the exception with its call center personnel obviously trained on blaming the German lawmaker for not extending this right to corporations, instead of admitting that its their corporate policy of offering only the legally required minimum.
What happened to me? I ordered the individual parts for a new computer, built it together, turned it on and watched in horror as nothing would boot. More than a week of troubleshooting later, and at some point enough parts here for 3 new computers (all purchased either as consumer or from local companies with a better return policy), I finally had the new system booting and sent the faulty combination of parts back to Alternate. As it looks right now, I’ll be receiving working (and by now totally unnecessary) replacement parts back instead of being refunded my money.
Lessons learnt for me?
- Never order from Alternate again
- If ordering online, make sure the online seller offers an acceptable return policy to corporations and, if not, order as consumer and deal with the accounting implications of that later
The other part of why it has been quiet with RibbonCustomizer is that I have been spending time looking at the Office 2010 beta. As it has a built-in ribbon customization feature, I don’t know yet what exactly RibbonCustomizer’s support of Office 2010 will be. If you have any suggestions (and have used the beta), please leave me a comment!
July 29th, 2009 at 9:07
Patrick, you can retire now 2010 does what RibbonCustomizer did. Thanks for all the hard work though.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:11
Fred,
thanks! Unfortunately, what is currently in 2010 for ribbon customization is pretty basic. So I’ll have to do some hard thinking about it
July 29th, 2009 at 15:44
Patrick–
I create and maintain a custom template used for proposals. I was in a rage when 2007 came out–14 years of gradually increasing capability down the drain. Ribbon Customizer was a huge help in visualizing changes to the ribbon and eliminating tedious work to duplicate what was ruined. Thanks for that–especially since I’m only a stubborn Power User, not a “developer.”
In my opinion, the QAT is the best idea Microsoft has come up with in a long time. If it were possible to size the QAT (the icons are too small for me)and to label the icons, or even better have multiple QATs, maybe even tranferable QATs, it would heaven for me. The big advantage of the QAT is that it’s static, eliminating the additional click on a tab.
Thanks!
July 29th, 2009 at 20:16
In 2010 you can save out any ribbon customization (any macros from normal dot you add, any tabs/groups you add and the qat) as a document and transfer to other users - but it is ver basic.
I wasn’t being rude Patrick but moving tabs/groups and macros of normal.dotm is quite basic.
What does RC do that is different from what is in 2010 and using Word the way it should be used and also allowing for Web application use?
July 29th, 2009 at 20:28
Fred,
a lot of the things are in the details, e.g. you get almost no control over how your buttons will be laid out in 2010. That they include it, is great for the end user. I simply haven’t decided yet, whether there is a market that needs more than the basic offering for RC
August 4th, 2009 at 15:41
hope you will release a beta that will work on 2010. the last beta dont work for me
August 26th, 2009 at 3:51
Hi Patrick
As Hanscke says - RC doesn’t even start installing for 2010. You must remove 2007 to run 2010 - so do you have a beta update?
August 26th, 2009 at 5:30
Not yet. I’ve been busy arguing with MS about 2010 itself…
August 29th, 2009 at 23:02
Patrick
Well I found in 2010 that if one uses XML/VBA as in insert tab before ClipBoard on Home tab the customisation in the ribbon with Word shrinks (hilarious). I also get a duplicate set of whatever I customise in my group with tabs on the home tab. But that is why it is a technical preview.
Also Patrick if you could answer my forum question I posted today for RibbonX. I need to create a cascading menu for users to select templates (or related templates in cascade) same as the old WOPR 2003 addin toolbar? I use the dynamic menu create files but how do I proceed from there to list folders/subfolders-files/subfolders-files cascading dymamically? I am confused with SubFolders colFolders and how to approach it (is it possible) to achieve this please?
I need to learn how to do this. I cannot find any information except RibbonX example for a dynamic menu in Word (not Excel). Please help!