The Microsoft Office Fluent user interface replaces the traditional menus and toolbars found in previous releases of Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office Fluent, which more popular known as Ribbon, is a results-oriented design that enables people to focus on what they want to do rather than how to do it.  As a result, users can find and discover tools and features easier quicker, making Office apps easier to use.

The Ribbon
In the Office Excel 2007 user interface, the system of menus and toolbars have been replaces by the Ribbon - a device that presents commands organized as a set of tabs.  XLReporter V8 and later will add a XLReporter tab to the Ribbon.

Software that does not support the Ribbon technology, which includes all versions of XLReporter prior to version 8 can still be used with Excel 2007, but will appear in the generic Addin tab.

The Microsoft Office button
The Office Fluent user interface brings together the capabilities of the Microsoft Office system into a single entry point in the UI: the Microsoft Office Button. This offers two major advantages. First, it helps users find these valuable features. Second, it simplifies the core authoring scenarios by allowing the Ribbon to focus on creating great documents.

Contextual tabs
Certain sets of commands are only relevant when objects of a particular type are being edited. For example, the commands for editing a chart are not relevant until a chart appears in a spreadsheet and the user is focusing on modifying it. In current versions of Microsoft Office applications, these commands can be difficult to find. In Office Excel 2007, clicking on a chart causes a contextual tab to appear with commands used for chart editing. Contextual tabs only appear when they are needed and make it much easier to find and use the commands needed for the operation at hand.

Galleries
Galleries are at the heart of the redesigned user interface. Galleries provide users with a set of clear results to choose from when working on their document, spreadsheet, presentation, or Access database. By presenting a simple set of potential results, rather than a complex dialog box with numerous options, Galleries simplify the process of producing professional looking work. The traditional dialog box interfaces are still available for those wishing a greater degree of control over the result of the operation.

Live Preview
Live Preview is a new technology that shows the results of applying an editing or formatting change as the user moves the pointer over the results presented in a Gallery. This new, dynamic capability streamlines the process of laying out, editing, and formatting so users can create excellent results with less time and effort. These elements are just a few of the new technologies that combine to create the Office Fluent user interface.

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