Office 12 pre-Beta 1: screenshot gallery
Published: 14 Sep 2005
Microsoft Office 12 pre-Beta 1 reveals dramatic changes to this productivity suite's interface and work flow. Tabs within Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access put features in groups to make them easier to find. This abrupt shift from the drop-down menus of Office 2003 will make users less reliant on dialogue boxes but dependent on icons and template 'galleries'. Developers imagining the possibilities of Office 12's open XML file format can also add their own tabs, details to tabs and galleries. For more details, read our preview of Office 12 pre-Beta 1.
Tabbed browsing
In place of the drop-down menu masthead, Word 12 includes a 'ribbon' at the top of the page. Tabs within Word represent File, Write, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, and Review and Comment functions.
Word tabs
Navigation becomes more visual. Office 12 will also reveal 'galleries' with previews of templates and formatting changes.
Fresh style
Office 12 gets a new graphics engine, which will make Excel charts appear more three-dimensional. Chart titles will also be easier to change.
Smart tabs
This preview of Microsoft's PowerPoint 12 beta shows how tabs surface according to current tasks, to anticipate features you may need.
PowerPoint's new look
The layouts of version 12 of PowerPoint, as well as those of Word, Excel and Access, will cluster functions into tabs to reduce the use of dialogue boxes. For more details, be sure to read our preview of Office 12 pre-Beta 1.
More visual Access
Microsoft is redesigning the interface of Access 12 to make it less intimidating to learn.
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Microsoft Office 12 pre-Beta 1
Preview Microsoft Office 12 pre-Beta 1 drastically revamps the user interfaces of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. [14 Sep 2005]
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