1. Redesigning the Microsoft Office Ribbon with Community Feedback
Hadi Rangin, University of Washington
Jeremy Spurlin, Microsoft

2. Overview Background on Vendor Collaborations
The MS Collaboration Journey
Microsoft’s Commitment to Accessibility
Rationale behind Ribbon Simplification
Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon
Demo

3. Background on Vendor Collaborations
Reactive vs. Reactive Accessibility
“Reactive accessibility” doesn’t work
14 years’ worth of experience with vendors
LMS: Blackboard, D2L, Moodle, Canvas
Library: Elsevier, Ebsco, Ex Libris
Conferencing Systems: Elluminate, Zoom
HR: Elucian, PeopleSoft, Workday
Misc: Google, Microsoft, Qualtrics, ServiceNow, PollEverywhere, Trumba, Panopto, Interfolio & many more

4. Goals of Collaboration
Short-term
Fix immediate problems
Long-term
Make accessibility a part of the Design, Development, and Quality Control processes

5. The MS Collaboration Journey (1/2)
Previous collaborations were not quite successful
Current collaboration initiated by JJ Cadiz:
Head of program management for Outlook (Desktop), principal owner of accessibility for all Outlook clients
Active MS Collaborators:
Anita Mortaloni, Jeff Kalvass, Stuart Bottom, Crystal Jones (eDAD)

6. The MS Collaboration Journey (2/2)
Collaboration initially focused on Windows Outlook, but has extended to include:
MS Word
Mac Outlook
Windows OS
Etc.
Monthly Meetings
MS Office, Mac Outlook, Windows OS, “Deep- Dive” into Selected Topic
Engagement with selected design and redesign projects

7. Collaboration Workflow
Collaboration Members report on issues found
Issues are discussed via mailing list and virtual meetings
Responsible PMs/engineers are invited to monthly meetings
eDAD (Enterprise Disability Answer Desk) records and routes issues to appropriate teams
Collaboration team verifies fixes upon receiving eDAD updates
Engaged in selected design/redesign projects
Focused meetings/in-depth discussion for new ideas
Occasional site visits

8. Collaboration Success Stories and Highlights (1/3)
MS Office:
Fixed: Duplicated reading of invitees in Win Outlook Calendar, one of Outlook crash scenarios, “Tell Me” focus trap (it is back address autocompletion
Enhancements:
Simplified Word Online Ribbon
Adding F6 Pane Navigation
Accessibility Checker
Redesigned:
Alt-text functionality
Ongoing Discussions re: Desktop Ribbon

9. Collaboration Success Stories and Highlights (2/3)
Mac Outlook:
Fixed: Many keyboard/screen reader navigation paths and interactions, Outlook Contacts, address autocompletion fix underway
Enhancements:
Conversation View
Syncing Folders and Summaries
Focus Management
Utilization of Mac Menu System for Outlook functions
Previously unable to read s with SR, now users can read the body of s and interact with links

10. Collaboration Success Stories and Highlights (3/3)
Windows OS:
Enhancements:
Windows Updates - Released specific policy for educational institutions to provide a means to enforce the “no update operation” during active hour policy
Ongoing Discussions:
Windows Settings Layout and Navigation
File Explorer
Adding and Removing Programs
Changing Default File Types

11. Microsoft’s Commitment to Accessibility (1/2)
Microsoft mission:  Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more
Office goals:  People with disabilities can create, consume and communicate content on any device; it is easy for everyone to create accessible content
Highlights of governance model: this includes leveraging trusted testers for ‘compliance’ aspect, but then extending to ‘real’ customers to get the varied range of perspectives that we need to create a usable product.  This includes PWD testing, usability tests and partnerships like with ATHEN

12. Microsoft’s Commitment to Accessibility (2/2)
Enterprise Disability Answer Desk (eDAD) and Disability Answer Desk (DAD)
Free service with support for multiple languages including American Sign Language (ASL) via video calls
Ask accessibility questions
Report Accessibility Issues
Get Conformance Reports
Contact Info given at end of presentation

13. Rationale for Simplified Ribbon
Traditional Ribbon is cumbersome & inefficient
Increasing discoverability of various functions
Making Ribbon structure logical and hierarchical
Providing a consistent navigation experience
Simplifying categories and groupings
Defaulting to commonly used controls instead of complex widgets
Improvement to overall usability of ribbon

14. Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (1/6)
Simplified Icons
More crisp/clean/simplified design
Converted images to SVG to allow for
Better scaling when high DPI/Zoom scenarios
Ability to render accurately in high contrast
Navigating to the Ribbon
CTRL + F6 navigates around the Canvas, any Panes, Status Bar, Banner, and Ribbon

15. Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (2/6)
Definitions:
Ribbon (composite toolbar)
Tab Headers/Ribbon Tabs (e.g. tab list and tabs)
Lower Ribbon (e.g. tab panel)
Peripheral Controls (toolbar)

16. Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (3/6)
Navigation within the Ribbon
Current Tab Loop: Tab List, series of controls within a tab, peripheral controls, file menu launcher
Within a “tab stop”, individual controls are navigable with Left/Right Arrow (looping at either end) and Home/End to navigate to the first/last control
In the lower ribbon, navigate by category or “chunk” with CTRL + Left/Right Arrow (looping at either end)

17. Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (4/6)
Executing and Navigating Various Control Types in Ribbon, Menu, or Submenu
SPACE and ENTER both execute the primary function of a button, split button, menu item
ALT + DOWN/UP Arrow key will expand/collapse menu launchers (e.g. buttons, split buttons, menu items)
RIGHT/LEFT Arrow key will expand/collapse an expandable menu item
ESC will close one level of currently expanded menus
ALT will close all currently expanded menus/submenus

18. Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (5/6)
Navigation within the File Menu
ESC closes submenus one level at a time
ALT closes all open menus
Arrow key navigation
UP/DOWN Arrow keys navigate through menu and submenu items
RIGHT Arrow key opens submenu
LEFT Arrow key closes an opened submenu

19. Specifications for the Redesigned Ribbon (6/6)
General Keytip Design
Accelerator keys are visible when
CTRL + F6 to navigate to the Ribbon
ALT + WIN to enter keytip mode
Full accelerator key sequence is on every control (on the aria-describedby to provide the information in a non- intrusive way)
Help/learning content for the simplified ribbon
There’s the ability to give feedback in application

20. Live Demo of Word Online Ribbon

21. Recognition Members of the ATHEN MS Office Collaboration:
Patrick Burke, Cliff Tyllick, German Fermin, Lisa Snider, Vance Martin,
Current and Former Students:
Jenny Bae, Ming Horn, Alexandre Mooc, Eric Peng, Michelle Ho, Brandon Mar, Raven Apigo, Michael Blume, Andrew Siew, ZK Lin
Microsoft:
JJ Cadiz, Anita Mortaloni, David Gorelik, Peter Frem, Stuart Bottom, Crystal Jones, Seth Messinger, Jeff Bishop, June Lee, Jeremy Spurlin, Theo Lorrain-Hale, Tracy Tran

22. Contacts and How to Get Involved
ATHEN Microsoft Office Collaboration:
ATHEN Mac Outlook Collaboration:
ATHEN Microsoft Windows Collaboration:
eDAD (enterprise Disability Answer Desk):
Phone:
Web: aka.ms/eDAD
Contacts:
Hadi Rangin –
Anita Mortaloni –

23. Questions and Answers