Hidden Menu Bars: Simplicity or Simply Irritating?

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

Yes, Microsoft, I’m talking to you. After trying Internet Explorer 7, I immediately noticed it was lacking a menu bar. That’s the first thing I check when trying out a new app: “what can I do with this new version that I couldn’t with the last?” IE7 has no apparent menu bar at first launch, but what makes it even worse is the fact that it’s there! You just have to jump through Microsoft’s hoops to find it. So I was curious, what is Microsoft trying to do by hiding all of an app’s commands from the user? Are they trying to follow Apple’s footsteps and make things simpler? If so, they should watch Apple’s footsteps more closely. You see, Apple is walking a straight line in the right direction, and Microsoft is a drunken hobo staggering a mile behind. (No offense intended to any drunken hobos reading this.)

I read some information about the general interface of Vista, all of which follows this anti-menu-bar trend. That cleared things up a little. Instead of traditional menu bars, apps with Vista have icon-bearing toolbars with commonly used items grouped together. I see several problems with that. Have you looked at any of Microsoft’s toolbars lately? Take Microsoft Office for example: glancing through those toolbars looking for the right icon makes me dizzy. Now they’re going to take all those menu bars and cram them in there as well? I’d like to see how that turns out. In addition, I think such a setup will occupy more screen real estate. The traditional menu bar is a quick way to see an app’s commands, and it takes up only 25 pixels on your screen. Oh well, none of this will really affect me. But it looks as if you Windows users have some major changes coming, some for the better, and some not.