Getting ride of "tubular toolbar look" Office 2003

  • Thread starter Thread starter Henry Mascovitch
  • Start date Start date
H

Henry Mascovitch

With Word 2003, can I get back to the old flat and uniform toolbar look of
Word XP ?. The new "tubular look" is unproductive, larger and ugly.
 
Is this an Office function or a Windows function. This seems to describe the
look of Windows XP so far as I've seen it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Uninstall Office 2003 and step back to Office XP.

--
Terry Farrell - Word MVP


With Word 2003, can I get back to the old flat and uniform toolbar look of
Word XP ?. The new "tubular look" is unproductive, larger and ugly.
 
Never having seen Office 2003, I would've thought this was a
Windows issue and that Henry could right-click an empty area
of the desktop, click Properties, Appearance, and at 'Windows
and Buttons' choose Windows Classic Style. But he implies
that his earlier installation (presumably Office XP) was
'flat and uniform'. Does this mean Office 2003 have its own,
even more swishy & swirly look??

I'm beginning to remember, unfondly, when cars changed their
tailfins every year for no reason. (Ok, so I still remember
tailfins period. Shuddup. You kids get off my lawn....)
 
Exactly my reaction. And btw the first car I owned (a hand-me-down family
car) was a station wagon we called "the space ship" because it had such big
tail fins. <g> (See
http://www.stationwagon.com/gallery/1960_Chrysler_Windsor.html)

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
So does 2003 really have an even more gooey look to it, or no?
(And if I'd saved a photo of our 1959 Chevy, I'm sure it'd
scare *somebody*....)

MT
 
Hi Henry,

Under Tools>Customize>Options, do you have the Large Icons box checked?

Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP
 
I had a hard time finding that picture, and I'm still not sure it's the
right model, as I remember the "space ship" as being a lot less ugly than
that. <g> One interesting feature it had, though, was a "pushbutton
automatic" transmission--very confusing to people who were used to reaching
for a gear shift lever!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Just a crazy idea. If you lucky enough, and you able to
get your paws on those GIFs that changed, just edit them
to your preferences, or port the old ones over, while
making sure they get the new names, and new sizes too.
See the difference between 2002 and 2003 in included Gifs.
Click to expand...

P.S.

I know, I am naive enough to assume they wrote portable
code, and the art work resides in some folder, rather than
being hard wired in the code.
 
Looks like you do at least get a color contrast, which should be helpful for
the visually challenged.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
in
microsoft.public.word.newusers
Just a crazy idea. If you lucky enough, and you able to
get your paws on those GIFs that changed, just edit them
to your preferences, or port the old ones over, while
making sure they get the new names, and new sizes too.


P.S.

I know, I am naive enough to assume they wrote portable
code, and the art work resides in some folder, rather than
being hard wired in the code.
Click to expand...

The gif are captured by me and are not resources for Office 2003
 
in
microsoft.public.word.newusers
Looks like you do at least get a color contrast, which should be
helpful for the visually challenged.
Click to expand...

I don't like it.


After extensive tests, I concluded the following:

The "tubular look" is the result of a faded shading. This shading is a mix
of two colors. The source of the colors is different depending if Windows
XP use Default Theme or not.

If the Default theme is activated ("XP look"), the colors are the ones of
the active title bar, but inverted (the Word toolbars have the same colors
as the active title bar, but upside down). Unfortunately with Windows XP
theme, the colors of the active title bar can't be changed, even in the
Display Advanced control panel. All other Windows colors can be changed,
but not the one of the active title bar. The colors are apparently hard
coded.

If the "Classical" look is actived, then colors can be customized. Note
that the high Contrast setting for the visually challenged is using the
classical mode. Word 2003 toolbar shading is then the result of two colors:
3D Button and Window. It is not even the active title bar colors this time
! This is strange but this how they decided to do it. But IMHO, this is
nonsense to me, and at best, not very consistent! Anyay. If Window
background and 3D Button background are set to the same color, Word
toolbars have finally a flat look. However, toolbars have no shaded border
and therefore are not easy to move around ! (Actually, if both parameters
are set to white, toolbars then show a tiny gray doted outline, but that
gray outline appears only when with is selected),

The problem in Windows is that setting both Window background and 3D Button
background to the same color is at best very unpleasant.

In other words, we're stuck with that shaded look foreover, like it or not,
unless there is a unknown hack to get back the ancient toolbars.
 
This sounds awful, but in keeping with the MS religion of innovation for
the sake of innovation, so that even some of the most desirable and
familiar features of their programs end up getting junked and there's
nothing you can do about it.

Larry
 
Back
Top