Ribbons, menus, and toolbars

Ribbons, menus, and toolbars are three methods that programs can use to show users what commands are available in those programs.

Ribbons

The ribbon is a rectangular area that fits across the top of an application window. It was introduced as a component of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface in Office 2007.

The ribbon is composed of several tabs, each of which represents a subset of program functionality. The tabs contain related commands that are organized, grouped, and labeled.

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The ribbon has several elements. They are listed and described in the following table, using examples from Microsoft Word.

Element

Description ...

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