Ribbon Interface

I just got Vista, and am just being acquanted with the new "Ribbon" interface. Windows Media Player 11 is one of the first programs I've used it with. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to simply open a file - the Help file didn't help - before I finally tried Ctrl+O and it took me to the open box. Not very convenient if I want to open a song off a non-audio CD and don't want to put it on a library.

WMP 9, by comparison, goes right to the folder I set up (not the My Music folder, either) when I do File Open so I can choose any file I want. Nice and simple, and not too hard if I want to load a file off a floppy disk or flash drive, either.

Is it this difficult to figure out how to do the stuff you've done for a decade with the Ribbon interface in Office 2007? When I first saw IE 7 I had to ask a friend how to find the Help button .

Or is there a simple way to switch back to the menu interface (in Office or WMP)?

I still have to decide whether to get Office 2003 or 2007 and would like the interface to be as intuitive as Office 2000 is for me now. IE isn't an issue since I always use Opera or Firefox anyways - and the address bar is easy enough to find for the few things I need IE for.

I did try installing Windows Media Player 9 on Vista, but unfortunately it was blocked due to compatibility issues ("This version of Windows Media Technologies is incompatible wiht or has been superseded by this version of Winodws"). I tried both the 98SE and XP installs, with and without Compatibility Mode . Maybe a direct copy of the installed files from my XP machine would work?

 

if you right click on the blank area to the left or right of the bottom control panel buttons you will pop up with the default menu for Windows Media Player. Alternatively, you could also just hit the 'alt' key on your keyboard while WMP is the forefront application.

once you access the menu, navigate to the preferences (tools > options) and click on the 'player' tab. uncheck 'add media files to library when played'.

 

OK, thanks, that solved the problem! The "Show Classic Menus" option was right on the "Alt" menu!

Does this also work in Office 2007? It's never quite safe to assume things with Microsoft.

Within the Classic Menus I also found the Classic Menus shortcut, Ctrl+M.

 

I am actually addicted to the ribbon in Office 07. It is so much more streamlined and customizeable. However, I agree that you need the classic menus a little more in WMP.