The ridiculously bad-looking Microsoft Word interface. Can you spot all of the disgusting details?
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Microsoft Office 2021, Microsoft’s latest office suite version of the pay one-time type, has just received an update that gives it a new look. Or should I say, a new repulsive look. It was just this morning that I realized that it had updated out of nowhere–no prior warning, dialog boxes, or anything whatsoever. So I make a mental note to change the auto-update settings for Office as I close down the dialog box that says “Office has a new look!” And then, a horrible, disgusting sight comes into view, the great hills and mountains of the “refreshed” Word interface. The “ribbon” is now a rounded box with black spots around the edges; totally wasted space. Peering up at the Quick Access toolbar, I see that the whole darn thing’s BLACK. What, have we gone full Skype 8.82 here? The AutoSave dial has been enlarged to a ridiculous size, and the divider lines are far too tall. Worst of all, the styles in the Styles section are way too wide–more wasted space. The “Home, Insert, Draw, Design” menu headers are way too close together, leaving lots of wasted space to the right of the Help menu. The share button is blue, which looks completely out of place in the black interface. And there’s a little megaphone icon stuck to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar notifying you about the “New Changes.”
It looks like someone got in here with a lethal weapon and shot everything, then ran the final UI through a color inverter. And now I’m hearing that this update has been out since the release of Windows 11, and Microsoft Office has just now given it to me. 7 months later. But overall, I’m just VERY, VERY dissatisfied with this new interface; I hope Microsoft reads this post and goes back to the old design. (Which, fortunately , you can do–by clicking on the megaphone icon and then going down to disabling the “Try out the new look” switch.)
I’ve been using this interface for a few months now (it became available via Office 365 a while back). I had a laugh when you mentioned the Style swatches being way too wide, because that’s my biggest complaint too—why the heck did they do that?? Nuts!