Steve interviews the man behind the AutoCAD Ribbon

The AutoCAD Ribbon, like others, seems to evoke only strong reactions. You either love or hate the major component in the biggest AutoCAD interface overhaul since the shift from DOS to Windows. From what I’ve seen it’s responsible for a mixed reception for AutoCAD 2009 but, since it’s hardly seen in AutoCAD Architecture 2009, I’m rather ambivalent about it. I wouldn’t install 2009 just for the ribbon but I wouldn’t avoid it because of it.

There’s a whole team working on the “AutoCAD User Experience” but Matt Stein, Senior Product Designer, has stepped forward to become the public face of “The Ribbon”. Although we’re not supposed to discuss the beta process I’m going to say Matt was awesome in responding to the, sometimes “vigorous”, ribbon debate which started well before 2009 became public.

In Part One of this Cadalyst interview, by Steve Johnson, he discusses the Ribbon, it’s features and why it was adopted. Even if you hate it, and have reverted to classic mode, it’s well worth reading to see why the change was deemed necessary. I’m already looking forward to Part Two!

The Ribbon Man, Part 1 - Cadalyst.com
An interview with Autodesk's Matt Stein about the much-discussed ribbon interface in AutoCAD 2009…

The Ribbon Man, Part 2 - CAD Management (added 2008–06–10)