MSU Computing Knowledge Base Gains a New Look and Improved Search Interface
07/19/2007
The virtual front door to the ACNS Help Desk, help.msu.edu, now sports an improved search interface and a fresh new look. Users will find the new help.msu.edu easier to navigate and easier on the eye.
Help.msu.edu provides links to the most-sought articles on a single page. These articles are generated from our computing knowledge base known as Techbase. You can browse the most popular articles, or you can search for an answer by typing in a keyword or phrase. Want to configure Outlook to work with mail.msu.edu? Just search for:
configure outlook
You’ll see a “hit list” or results page that resembles what you’d see from Yahoo!, Google or MSN. Chances are the information you seek will be close to the top of the hit list. The new help.msu.edu uses a search engine called Omnifind, a tool from IBM and Yahoo!, replacing a previous scheme where ACNS Help Desk staff entered search keywords by hand. Tests show that for common queries the new search engine delivers better results.
In developing and testing the new help.msu.edu, ACNS staff examined the most popular searches, and the most popular knowledge base articles, to ensure that the new search interface delivered the right results. We can’t guarantee that the exact article you seek will always be at the top of the hit list, but we think it will be close. You may have to scroll a bit, or you may need to refine your search a tad.
“Of course, we are always here to help, whether a customer calls, walks in, or sends us an e-mail” says Sandy Brasington, team leader for the ACNS Help Desk. “But we think help.msu.edu and the knowledge base serves as a great self-help tool. We try to cover the answers to our most common questions in the knowledge base, so that customers can quickly look things up on their own.”
And it’s not just frequently asked questions, or FAQs, that you’ll find in the knowledge base. Rose Cooper works with full-time colleagues and with student help desk staff to add information to the knowledge base. “If we can capture a nugget of useful information that will help the next user solve a problem, it’s a win for everyone” she says.
Help.msu.edu also provides real-time information about scheduled maintenances and service outages to ACNS services, drawn from servicestatus.msu.edu. The page is the one-stop shop to visit if you’ve encountered a problem with computing or networking at MSU.
Feedback from users is an important part of the process. Besides analyzing common search queries, we also monitor and respond to comments from customers. We hope people will tell us when they find an article helpful – and we also want to hear when there’s a gap in the knowledge base.
Another feature of the new help.msu.edu is improved RSS feeds of service status information. RSS is a way to distribute, or syndicate, information on the Web so that various sites can incorporate those pieces of content of interest to their customers. We plan to document these RSS improvements so that anyone in the MSU community can tap into real-time status of the online services the MSU community depends on. (Of course, we’ll add this information to the knowledge base, where it will be easy for anyone to find.)
Office 2007: New Features, New Interface, New Compatibility Issues
07/02/2007
This spring, Microsoft released Office 2007, a major new edition of its suite of word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and other tools. Office 2007 sports a very different user interface and delivers new features, but can create serious compatibility issues. The compatibility issues present special challenges for students, faculty, and staff returning to school at MSU this fall.
In the 2007 edition, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and their cousins present users with a very different user interface. Replacing the familiar method of clicking on a menu item, then drilling down to a feature such as “Word Count,” Microsoft introduces a new “ribbon” interface. Many more functions are exposed on screen. As you tab among “Font,” “Paragraph,” “Styles,” “Editing,” etc., the Ribbon displays many of the functions and choices that you previously might have hunted to locate.
Reviews are mixed. Some reviewers say that Office 2007 features will be easier for users to locate. Others argue that the new suite presents too many choices on screen at one time, confusing users new and old. Some people favorably note that a user can customize what appears on the Ribbon. Others retort that no two users of Office 2007 will see the same user interface.
Recognizing the challenges this entirely new interface presents, Microsoft offers some assistance, such as the Word 2003 to Word 2007 interactive command reference guide.
New Office features include support for collaboration and for posting to Wikis and blogs. Excel users who’ve felt cramped by a row limit of about 32,000 can revel in a new limit of 1,000,000 rows. PowerPoint offers new templates that should help create snazzier presentations.
Office 2007 Compatibility Issues
The European Union and other governments pressured Microsoft to open its office applications to competition. Microsoft responded with a new Open XML format. It remains to be seen if Microsoft’s response will lead to competition in office applications. What is clear is that Office 2007 presents serious compatibility concerns.
If you create a new file in Office 2007, by default the file will save in the new XML format that pertains to the application. For instance, a new Word document will save as a .docx file, not in the familiar .doc format. Office 2003 and other earlier versions cannot read these files without first downloading the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for 2007 formats.
Moreover, some functions behave differently. Byron Brown, professor of Economics, notes that Excel handles 3D figures differently in its 2007 version, and that Visual Basic programs may be incompatible between Office 2003 and 2007. Dr. Brown notes that Microsoft does provide detailed information about incompatibilities on Microsoft.com.
This fall, as thousands of new and returning students come to campus, they will bring thousands of brand new computers laden with Office 2007. As these students turn in new term papers or other homework via e-mail, ANGEL, or LON-CAPA, many of their professors will not be able to open the files, because they’re still using Office 2003 or earlier versions of MS-Office (or, on the Mac, Office 2004).
Unfortunately, users of Office 2003 or 2004 who haven’t upgraded recently will see error messages they will find puzzling. Fortunately, there are some workarounds:
• Office 2007 allows you to save files in Office 2003 formats. Anyone exchanging files with people using earlier versions of Office can save in a format their collaborator can use.
• Microsoft offers a “Compatibility Pack” that will convert Office 2007 files back to the 2003 format. A professor or other member of the MSU community can install this tool to process files they receive in 2007 formats. Note that Office 2007 has new features that may not convert to and from 2003. See the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at support.microsoft.com/kb/923505.
• ACNS will install the Compatibility Pack in the Computer Labs we offer around campus. Over 1,700 computers will be available and able to open files created in the new formats.
• If you are editing a file created in an earlier version of Office, by default Office 2007 will save your edited file in the earlier format.
• You can use Google, Yahoo, or other search engines to find helpful hints. (For instance, search for “Word 2007 undo”)
For further information, please see visit help.msu.edu, knowledge base article on Office 2007 issues.
