More on Living at home with Word 2013

I have found some things to like about Word 2013

• it allows a download of a free French dictionary so I can practise define words in French text instead of just going straight to translation
• there are other free English dictionaries to download and embed for definition (right click word to see)- Bing Dictionary is surprisingly good with extensive derivation notes: so good that I only go to my electronic OED for thorough research. This does not affect the automatic spelling dictionary that Word uses for editing.
• when I prepare meeting minutes that others send back with unmarked alterations, there is an inbuilt "compare" function that marks up the master text so changes  can be accepted or rejected in the orthodox way. At the office there are more sophisticated docu-comp programs but for home use this works well.

This list is small, but grudgingly I'm back to Word 2013

To make Word 2013's 50 shades of grey more bearable I have found a way to adjust my monitor using the Control Panel Gamma Management

More on Microsoft Office 2013

Further to yesterday's post, I have been able to retain Office 2010 on my hard drive and have begun using Word 2013.

White background everywhere is unsustainable, so I have opted for the max contrast, dark grey shade.

It may be an optical illusion but the black fonts seem less intense in 2013 (greyish shade numbers 42 ?), and are harder to focus on, seeming to have a blurred look about them.

There can be no illusion about some of the dialogue boxes, especially the font chooser- the text is definitely blurred and greyish rather than black (grey shades 37-43?), and headache seems imminent.
With great regret as an early adopter, I am going back to Word 2010.

Judgment reserved on other elements of the Office package.

Microsoft Office 2013: Beware the theme colour

I enjoy colour themes that are easy on the eye. In Word 2010, for example, I have a blue background for my documents. Same ideas apply to One Note, Access, etc.

Microsoft 2013 has the Model T Ford approach. You can have no colour (white) or, any of two shades of grey.  Hard to look at!  Here is my dark grey selection of the header. Imagine the grey border around the rest of the document.

Here are 2 out of dozens of complaints from  users  over the past 4 months taken from http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officeitpro/thread/ed1de1dc-1389-4980-acf2-aefc95947ac1/.

(1) It feels like, to me, that those of us with vision issues were NOT considered. At all. Do you have ANY idea how horrible it is to try to see grey on grey when you have contrast issues with your eyes? Do you not realize that the older people get, their contrast vision starts to lessen naturally? Do you know that lessening of contrast vision is a known side effect of Lasik?

PLEASE give some color options for those of us who have a difficult time seeing. This is seriously horrible. :(

As already pointed out in the quote above eyesight changes throughout our lifetime. Every student in Biology or Medicine may remember microscopy class and the enormous aha moment when dyes were added to help transform grey scale images into wonderful worlds of color. Our eyes process color differently than black and white contrast images due to the fact that different receptors (cones) are used. With the Windows logo using red-green blue-yellow so well - I would like to know what led to the drastic change in interface presentation and what are the presumed benefits (greater interface speed due to less color processing? Were there cognitive aspects to lead us away from a certain interface type? I am sure there is some form of engineering aspect that led to this interface - if MS were so kind as to share the insight it may help us understand - before customers spend undue amounts of time researching, trying to change - or even uninstalling Office 2013 to get color back. 

(2) I am so disappointed in the narrow perspective Microsoft have taken here in your design. I am the CEO of a charitable disabilities organisation and the new 2013 MS Office is a poor design for use and readability. It does lack consideration of Occupational Health and Safety Standards and completely fails when considering those with visual disabilities. Even I find it prisms when reading and my eyes are straining.

You have gone for design over function and despite the new additional options can't you see that if the visual fails no one will spend the time on the program to use it to its full capacity.

I have mistakenly just installed this an all of our systems to correct an issue in outlook 2010
which the new installation did, but now have a larger issue of workplace health and safety.

Please create some add ins or upgrades to correct this

 MICROSOFT ANSWER

Thank you for the feedback on Office’s new look. We are actively collecting,
sorting and reading through feedback on Office 2013’s design and User
Experience. As the audience for Office 2013 grows, we are being mindful of
patterns and pain points that emerge from user feedback. While we do not have
any additional Themes planned at this time, it is an issue we are watching very
closely.

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Jennie, Program Manager - Office Support