I know I’m probably going to get MI5, KGB,FBI etc. on me for saying this…but I would REALLY enjoy/appreciate the ribbon feature that was utilised in Sibelius. Dorico is such a mystery for me because there are so many features hidden by menus and sub-menus.The nice thing about the ribbon as that one could scope very easily what and where all the features were.
Anyway, I must admit that, so far, I find Dorico has quite a steep learning curve. The videos Daniel made was ok as an intro to the modes, but we need much more instruction regarding the “players” concept, flows, editing of objects and so much more.
But regarding the ribbon, I guess it will remain an unfulfilled hope.
No Ribbons, please, please, NO, or if it then must be, only as a selectable option for those who like chaos, funny usless icons, and unnecessary mouse movements across the full screen (sorry) … .
Ribbons are one of the reasons I want to leave Sibelius asap. So please!
We have no plans to introduce a ribbon UI to Dorico. (Though WaveLab does now use a ribbon-like UI, and I think in general it has been well-received by its users, and I don’t personally have any objection to ribbons at all.)
Absolutely! No ribbon, please!!! I have Sibelius 8.3, but whenever possible I prefer to use Sibelius 6 over the later ribbon versions. I find the ribbon to be the kiss of death – also with Word and other M$ products.
I would like a ribbon in every application, but I think it is the same as with visual styles and Windows: some people like fancy transparency and colors, others don’t.
What in my opinion is more important then a ribbon layout is a function-search-input, just like the one in Sibelius or Visual Studio in the top right corner.
Dorico gets more and more functionalities and it is sometimes a little frustrating not to find the command you search in the right menu. Especially when you don’t know every shortcut.
I don’t especially like ribbons but I’ve gotten used to the one in Sibelius and MS Office. I do hope that if a ribbon is considered for Dorico that there is an end-user option to choose either menus or ribbons (although I’m sure that programming the two different interfaces is a pain in the butt for the development team).
But I second th3ben’s suggestion for a “Find in Menu” search function.
IMO, the main improvement of a ribbon was the easier access to key shortcuts since following your way to the single commands even when they are hidden in the third or fourth layer seems to be more simple. You do not need so much time to learn the commands, yet my feeling is that every command is further away than before. Every ribbon can be hidden with Strg-F1 very fast, and this combination shows the intention behind the ribbon: Help… So the ribbon has its advantages, yet I always hated it as well, I found it plain ugly in its design idea.
Regarding the steep learning curve: Obviously, the more efficiency you want to achieve the more you have to learn key shortcuts. It depends on how fast you want to become with a program. The time you need to learn you will spare manifold if and when you are working a lot with the program. So you have to decide which way is right for you…
I really loved the way I learned SCORE by Leland Smith. You got a real book with a course how to learn the application and a reference book. After this course you were able to work with SCORE and if you needed something more sophisticated you instantly knew where to find it. That would be great with Dorico!
If you like ribbons or not depends also on your using of iOS or Windows, I think. My impression is that many awkwardnesses of Dorico for the Windows user result of its primary design for apple machines with retina display. Possibly there should have been more beta testers with slightly older hardware running Windows.
Pro or Con ribbon: Why not if you know how to get rid of it with a single key command or if you can switch easily between different (pre-formatted) UI-designs. So many people pimp there OS, so it may be trendy to have different UIs for one program (though there are certainly more urgent tasks on hand for the small and yet so efficient Dorico team).
The ribbon was one of the reasons (amongst others) I disbanded using Sibelius and switched to notion. Please don’t add it. If that’s going to happen I can only hope to have an option to turn it off. Otherwise it’s back to Notion for me.
Since I started this post, please allow me at least to end it with this thought. I know there are many tastes and preferences, and I also tested the usability of the Ribbon in Sibelius. Believe me, I’m not trying to stir here but allow me to leave you with a thought. Just think on how the Ribbon saves time by eg:
On the Ribbon, you have an EDIT RIBBON with a STEMS SECTION and this STEMS section has 5 buttons (ALL VISIBLE IN ONE GO…like in Sibelius). Now you can manipulate a note’s stem by clicking those “Stems” buttons continuously without having to continually first go up to the menu EDIT…SCROLL DOWN to STEMS…WAIT for the sub-menu to open and the choose a stem option. If you don’t like the change, you have to go back up to the EDIT menu again and repeat the whole process.See attached pic.
While with the Ribbon open at the EDIT section, you can keep on clicking edit buttons until you get what you like. One saves so much time.
Anyway, the idea here is to give an opinion and not start a war. I truly cannot understand how people cannot see how the Ribbon saves so much time than having to scroll through hundreds of menus and sub-menus. Like someone above mentioned, Dorico is going to keep expanding…and we can expect MENUS GALORE!!! But, I guess the majority always wins.
What I’d really like is keyboard shortcuts for everything, which is much quicker than a ribbon. I’ve set an external macro program to do a number of tasks but certain things, like showing or hiding an accidental, would be easier with a keypress rather than having to go to the properties panel.
ugh. if the ribbon then the option to turn it off. a pox on the ribbon!!!