Why “ribbon” is being discussed
The most recent Hacker News stories and comments contributing to this topic's mentions.
When Office 2007 was released, they made a lot of noise about how the ribbon was easy to use. One of the key functionality was Preview - that when the mouse cursor moves inside…
by wolpoli · Oct 27, 2026
> It made functions easier to find I actually find it difficult to scan for a specific function since the most of the text in the ribbon is centered and may have multiple lines.…
by wolpoli · Oct 27, 2026
Menubars/toolbars were not n00b-friendly but great for anyone that used a computer for technical reasons. Old Photoshop, any CAD software, Excel. Smaller buttons and more o…
by samplatt · Oct 27, 2026
The alternative to ribbon is not menu+ quick access, it was easily customizable toolbars where you can simply drag and drop only the buttons you need in the toolbars you need at…
by eviks · Oct 27, 2026
I actually like Ribbon and I disagree. It made functions easier to find, for people who didn't have a muscle memory of those functions. It actually taught them how to use the pr…
by okanat · Oct 27, 2026
Menus from Win95 are uniform. All buttons took up one row and a full width of the submenu. (Even if you don't have a shortcut key assigned, the space is taken up and wasted) It'…
by dragontamer · Oct 27, 2026
Interest
Proportion of Hacker News items mentioning "ribbon" over time.
Mentions
Total number of Hacker News items mentioning "ribbon" over time.
A ribbon is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic materials, such as polyester, nylon, and polypropylene. Ribbon is used for useful, ornamental, and symbolic purposes. Cultures around the world use ribbon in their hair, around the body, and as ornament on non-human animals, buildings, and packaging. Some popular fabrics used to make ribbons are satin, organza, sheer, silk, velvet, and grosgrain. Read more on Wikipedia