Ribbon
A ribbon is a graphic user concept for application programs; it connects the menu control and toolbar elements. Microsoft Office (Version 2007 and higher) uses ribbons, as does WordPad and Microsoft Paint for Windows 7.
Ribbon Structure
Application commands are shown as control elements. These control elements are grouped on a horizontal bar at the top edge of the application window. Groups which belong together are grouped into tabs. All tabs together and some special control elements make up the application's ribbon.
Figure: Ribbon with Tab Start
As with any other normal menu bar, terms which represent term groups can be found in the program window's header, e.g. Start, View or Design. Clicking on the term doesn't expand a menu; a tab containing the applicable commands appears instead. Each menu has its own tab.
Icons within the ribbon are grouped with similar icons, although this is automatically changed depending on resolution and/or screen size. The fact that more commands fit in the tabs means that you do not have to use dialogs (e.g. for paragraph formatting) as often.
Frequently-used commands can also be added to the toolbar for quick access; this then means that these commands can be quickly accessed to be run, regardless of which tab is currently shown in the ribbon.
A special tab that is separately colored can be found to the left.The Model tab primarily contains commands for working with models as a whole.
Fixed and Context-Sensitive Tabs
The ribbon always contains the Model tab and the Start, Review, View and Extras standard tabs which contain groups and commands.
Other tabs only appear once you are in a certain context, e.g. if a diagram is opened for editing.A contextual tab group can be defined for such a context; this will then contain additional commands that are available in one or more tabs which can only be executed in this context.This is e.g. the Diagram Tools context tab group with two tabs for Design and for Page Layout.
The ribbon was first introduced in Microsoft Office 2007. It started off as an orb in the top left-hand corner of the header and contained information that was previously available in the "File" menu.However, many users thought the button was an application icon and did not recognize it as a menu.
With the introduction of Windows 7 and Office 2010 came a new look for the application button. The size and shape was initially modified to fit with the other headers in the ribbon's tabs as an icon and was then given a new name "File" or "Model", in the case of Innovator and had a different color from the other tabs to make it stand out.Microsoft calls this style scenic style.
As of version 11.1.2, Innovator now uses "scenic style".