Chapter 22: Working with the Ribbon
IN THIS CHAPTER
• Looking at the Excel Ribbon UI from a user's perspective
• Using VBA to work with the Ribbon
• Customizing the Ribbon with RibbonX code
• Looking at examples of workbooks that modify the Ribbon
• Using boiler-plate code for creating an old-style toolbar
Ribbon Basics
Beginning with Microsoft Office 2007, the time-honored menu-and-toolbar user interface was scrapped and replaced with a new tab-and-Ribbon interface. Although the new interface kind of resembles the old-fashioned menus-and-toolbars interface, you'll find that it's radically different.
Long-time Excel users probably noticed that the menu system had become increasingly complicated with each new version. In addition, the number of toolbars had become almost overwhelming. After all, every new feature must be accessible. In the past, this access meant adding more items to the menus and building new toolbars. The Microsoft designers set out to solve this overcrowding problem, and the Ribbon interface was their solution.
Reactions to the Office Ribbon interface can best be described as mixed. As with anything new, some people love it, and others hate it. Count me among the former group. After using Excel 2007 for more than three years, it's painful for me to go back to the confusing menu system in Excel 2003.
Many experienced Excel users suffered from a mild case of bewilderment when they realized that all their familiar command sequences no longer worked. Beginning ...
