This is a rare glimpse into the creative process at Microsoft. The entire video series is in 10 parts at YouTube and is HIGHLY recommended viewing. There is a tremendous amount of information on the development of the ribbon interface in the series. Here is a playlist of the full 10 video set:
Harris is now part of the Windows 8 development team.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Finding Excel Help
Finding help for your Excel dilemmas is as much about honesty and humility as it is about being in the right place. There are helpers out there who will assist you on your Excel journey, but it helps them to know if you are a beginner or a novice. Go ahead and tell them. Also, make EVERY effort you can to get to the bottom of your problem before seeking help. Make sure you have exhausted all your options with Google searches, especially. This way, at least you will have thought your problem through well enough to explain it to potential helpers.
Here are some excellent sources of Excel help across the internet:
1. Microsoft Answers Excel board. This service is number one with me. As a practical matter the board is best used for issues with formulas for spreadsheets. No matter how complex your problem with formulas, you will find an answer on the Microsoft Answers board. Focus on forming a well framed concise question for best results. But that's not all. If you are in a pinch there are also very capable VB experts making the rounds there. They can and will help you with your simple macro fixes and solutions needs. If you are attempting to get the most from your efforts with Excel, this is one help board you must learn to rely on.
2. Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) > Forums Home > Microsoft ISV Community Center Forums > Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) This board is practically impossible to find. The worst part, when you enter the MSDN site, it looks simple enough. Lots of links and the "Forums" tab on the top right of the page. Simple right? Just click on the tab and head for the VB topics board. Ummmmm...nope. Clicking on the forums tab will take you to "the arena". Here there are hundreds gladiators all in the form of a message board. And each one out to achieve the ultimate victory at my cost. Covered are so many topics that I don't think Microsoft even knows what the topic headings mean. Well, there is probably some nerd at MS that does, but this is serious business for developers. No way would I have ever found this board without mistakenly posting in the wrong one. A kind Microsoft expert pointed me to the VBA board to get my silly Excel question looked over, and my expedition began. This board is the cream of the crop for help with macros...in particular userform macros. Here they will take the time to read carefully your question, and the answers are obviously very much so crafted based on the expert's experiences with VBA and with what works best overall. The result is absolute dynamite. If you are looking to streamline your workbook with userforms and VBA controls, whether you are looking for a simple solution or a very complex one or even if you are are starting from scratch, the experts at the VBA board of MSDN will take the time to review your question and give you an honest and complete answer. No need to sugar coat your problem here...just tell the truth, and someone will help you. This is a very refreshing turn from the normal scratch my back routines of most Excel message boards around the internet. And it is effective. For your formulas and core macros, head to the Excel board at Microsoft Answers. To really make your workbook sing and dance with userforms, the MSDN VBA board is the one. If you are even remotely interested in learning to use Excel in ANY serious way, bookmark this site "RiGhT nOW!" You simply must incorporate this into your help arsenal...no negotiating...
3. Excelanon. I am biased, and the group is new, but I believe in the mission of the group. Projects can be an immense burden, and the board is designed to bring common Excel users together in a free to join membership arrangement, so that they can help each other muddle through the grim details of planning and completing a project. Keeping my fingers crossed, but I believe the group will grow. I have experienced for myself what a team of normal every day Excel users can do, even with their basic understanding of the program...join us won't you!
4. Excel Blogs. Google "Excel Blogs" and look around. Bookmark some of the blogs if you like them and follow along. If nothing else, you will learn much using this method. RSS the best ones!
5. Free Public Excel Message Boards. Google "Excel Help" or "Excel Message Board", and you will come up with any number of free to join bulletin boards across the internet. There are some very talented helpers at these sites, too. However, it is more or less a buyer beware situation. Some of the boards offer the opportunity for users to find assistance for a price. Because of these boards, there seems to be a thread that runs through all of them. Basically, it's something like this..."go ahead and ask, but it better not be everything you wanted to ask"...and don't expect a comprehensive answer. Unless you have more or less solved your own problem already, you will get only a portion of what you are looking for at best. And there is a decent chance the answer will have nothing to do with what you were seeking. They really don't take the time on these boards to look into the actual needs of help seekers. Nonetheless, if you haven't used all your board tokens from the board fairies and if you are in an extreme bind, the free help boards are not the worst place to look for help. At least you are on the right topic. Who knows, maybe you will get lucky...if you don't cross one of the trolls lurking in the shadows...
Here are some excellent sources of Excel help across the internet:
1. Microsoft Answers Excel board. This service is number one with me. As a practical matter the board is best used for issues with formulas for spreadsheets. No matter how complex your problem with formulas, you will find an answer on the Microsoft Answers board. Focus on forming a well framed concise question for best results. But that's not all. If you are in a pinch there are also very capable VB experts making the rounds there. They can and will help you with your simple macro fixes and solutions needs. If you are attempting to get the most from your efforts with Excel, this is one help board you must learn to rely on.
2. Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) > Forums Home > Microsoft ISV Community Center Forums > Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) This board is practically impossible to find. The worst part, when you enter the MSDN site, it looks simple enough. Lots of links and the "Forums" tab on the top right of the page. Simple right? Just click on the tab and head for the VB topics board. Ummmmm...nope. Clicking on the forums tab will take you to "the arena". Here there are hundreds gladiators all in the form of a message board. And each one out to achieve the ultimate victory at my cost. Covered are so many topics that I don't think Microsoft even knows what the topic headings mean. Well, there is probably some nerd at MS that does, but this is serious business for developers. No way would I have ever found this board without mistakenly posting in the wrong one. A kind Microsoft expert pointed me to the VBA board to get my silly Excel question looked over, and my expedition began. This board is the cream of the crop for help with macros...in particular userform macros. Here they will take the time to read carefully your question, and the answers are obviously very much so crafted based on the expert's experiences with VBA and with what works best overall. The result is absolute dynamite. If you are looking to streamline your workbook with userforms and VBA controls, whether you are looking for a simple solution or a very complex one or even if you are are starting from scratch, the experts at the VBA board of MSDN will take the time to review your question and give you an honest and complete answer. No need to sugar coat your problem here...just tell the truth, and someone will help you. This is a very refreshing turn from the normal scratch my back routines of most Excel message boards around the internet. And it is effective. For your formulas and core macros, head to the Excel board at Microsoft Answers. To really make your workbook sing and dance with userforms, the MSDN VBA board is the one. If you are even remotely interested in learning to use Excel in ANY serious way, bookmark this site "RiGhT nOW!" You simply must incorporate this into your help arsenal...no negotiating...
3. Excelanon. I am biased, and the group is new, but I believe in the mission of the group. Projects can be an immense burden, and the board is designed to bring common Excel users together in a free to join membership arrangement, so that they can help each other muddle through the grim details of planning and completing a project. Keeping my fingers crossed, but I believe the group will grow. I have experienced for myself what a team of normal every day Excel users can do, even with their basic understanding of the program...join us won't you!
4. Excel Blogs. Google "Excel Blogs" and look around. Bookmark some of the blogs if you like them and follow along. If nothing else, you will learn much using this method. RSS the best ones!
5. Free Public Excel Message Boards. Google "Excel Help" or "Excel Message Board", and you will come up with any number of free to join bulletin boards across the internet. There are some very talented helpers at these sites, too. However, it is more or less a buyer beware situation. Some of the boards offer the opportunity for users to find assistance for a price. Because of these boards, there seems to be a thread that runs through all of them. Basically, it's something like this..."go ahead and ask, but it better not be everything you wanted to ask"...and don't expect a comprehensive answer. Unless you have more or less solved your own problem already, you will get only a portion of what you are looking for at best. And there is a decent chance the answer will have nothing to do with what you were seeking. They really don't take the time on these boards to look into the actual needs of help seekers. Nonetheless, if you haven't used all your board tokens from the board fairies and if you are in an extreme bind, the free help boards are not the worst place to look for help. At least you are on the right topic. Who knows, maybe you will get lucky...if you don't cross one of the trolls lurking in the shadows...
Microsoft SkyDrive
Microsoft Windows Live has available a service known as SkyDrive which makes it possible to create and store simplified, downloadable Office documents online. The service is free with a Windows Live account, and SkyDrive is easily accessible from a Hotmail Inbox. Documents can be edited online or downloaded, edited, and uploaded and stored. From the storage area, files can easily be shared and embedded. Easily turn parts of your Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents into pictures and upload them for documentation or review.
Here is a sample document saved as a picture and uploaded to SkyDrive. Fair warning, the service works best with Internet Explorer:
Here is a sample document saved as a picture and uploaded to SkyDrive. Fair warning, the service works best with Internet Explorer:
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