Microsoft Ribbon User Interface

Microsoft Ribbon is the new User Interface (UI) or an "element" of an overall UI introduced with Microsoft Office 2007. Ribbon combines the menu bar and toolbar into a single floating pane. By default, the ribbon is located at the top of the screen in Office applications, such as Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook.

The Ribbon UI is dynamic, constantly changing depending on what part of the software you are using. Elements within Ribbon can appear or become absent depending on user activity. This results in a lack of consistency users have become accustomed to with previous menu interfaces.

Ribbon is the primary UI element in both Office 2007 and Office 2010. Office 2011 for Mac includes also includes an alternative ribbon UI which does not match the one in Windows versions. Microsoft Office 2013 allows users the option to use the classic menu bar or Ribbon, meaning that Ribbon is optional. The decision was to address a great deal of resistance to the Ribbon interface from users of Microsoft Office, and complaints of loss of business productivity.

Microsoft Ribbon has received an overall mixed reception among users. However, Microsoft will likely push towards using the Ribbon UI in an expanding number of future products and eventually phase out the classic menu UI in all Microsoft products.