Ribbon

リボン / 2007– / Layout / Microsoft UI

A command bar that organises a program's features into a series of tabs at the top of a window, replacing both the menu bar and the toolbars. Microsoft introduced it with Office 2007 and named its parts in the Windows guidelines: core tabs, groups, contextual tabs, galleries, the Application button and the Quick Access Toolbar. Every command carries a label, and its size follows how often it is used.

Ribbon — Office 2007-style ribbon with contextual tabs — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Halil Şimşek P — Office 2007-style ribbon with contextual tabs — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Halil Şimşek P

Ribbon — Microsoft Word（オランダ語版）のリボン 2021年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © ChristiaanPR — Microsoft Word（オランダ語版）のリボン 2021年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © ChristiaanPR

Ribbon — Microsoft Excel のリボンのグループ「Modificar」 2014年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Microsoft Excel のリボンのグループ「Modificar」 2014年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

A tabbed band sits permanently at the top of the window, fixed at 48 pixels high
The band is cut into labelled groups, with each group name running along its lower edge
Command icons come in two sizes, 32 by 32 and 16 by 16, and the frequent ones take the large size and lead the group
Coloured contextual tabs appear when an object type is selected, and their tab set labels end in Tools

Best used for

Consolidating menus and toolbars into a single surface for a business application with dozens of commands
Designing a surface where users pick by seeing the result first, through galleries and live preview

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Dictionary entry

Type: Label every command. Icons stand alone only where the commands are ones everybody already knows.
Composition: Fix the band to the top and keep core tabs to seven or fewer. Make the first tab Home and gather the frequent commands there, then cut the band into labelled groups.
Material: Draw each icon at both 32 by 32 and 16 by 16, giving the large size to the frequent commands. Size in ribbon gallery thumbnails to fit inside the 48 pixel band.
Caution: Merely refactoring existing menus and toolbars into the band costs the extra space without gaining the results oriented commands that justify it.
Further study: why Office 2007 threw out the menu bar / the difference between contextual tabs and modal tabs / how key tips beginning with Alt narrow first to a tab and then to a command

Related entries

Aero (エアロ)Same Microsoft UI lineage.Compare Ribbon and Aero
Windows 95 Interface (Windows 95 インターフェース)Same Microsoft UI lineage.Compare Ribbon and Windows 95 Interface

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/ribbon-ui
Markdown: [Ribbon — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/ribbon-ui)
HTML: <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/ribbon-ui">Ribbon — IndexStyle</a>

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