The Importance Of Labels

Word labels plus icons incorporated into the Office 12 ribbon ...

"My first experience in Office was working as an intern program manager on Outlook 98. During that summer I learned one of the key usability lessons that carried over into the DNA of the Ribbon: the importance of labels.

Part of the user experience effort around Outlook 98 was improving the menu and toolbar structure. One of the problems noticed again and again among non-expert users was that people didn't use the toolbar at all! With the exception of the "Delete" icon (which was perhaps familiar from the Windows 95 shell), people used the menus to reply, forward, and to create new messages.

Different fixes were tried: new icons, rearrangement of the icons, positioning icons under the menus from which the commands came from. In the end, one change caused a total turnaround: labeling the important toolbar buttons. Almost immediately, the toolbars were a big hit and everyone at all skill levels starting using them."   continued ...   (Via Jensen Harris)

Outlook 97 vs. Outlook 2003 Toolbars.