New User Interface
Microsoft Excel continues to grow in power, sophistication, and capability, but one thing that has changed very little since the early '90s is its user interface. The once-simple toolbar has been packed with so many features over the years that few users know where to find them all. Microsoft has addressed this problem in Excel 2007 by radically redesigning the user interface. The time-honored menu-and-toolbar user interface has been scrapped and replaced with a new "e;tab-and-ribbon"e; interface that makes every feature easy to locate and use.
Other elements that comprise the new look include:
Six new modern-looking fonts:
The default workbook font is now 11-point Calibri, which is much more readable than the old 10-point Arial, especially in smaller sizes.
Quick Access Toolbar:
A personal toolbar, to which you can add commands that you use regularly. This toolbar is the only part of the Excel 2007 interface that the user can customize.
The Mini toolbar:
A new addition to the right-click menu. This toolbar contains commonly-used formatting icons, displayed near your mouse pointer for quick access.
New File Formats
Over the years, Excel's XLS file format has become an industry standard. Excel 2007 still supports that format, but it now uses new default "open" file formats that are based on XML (Extensible Markup Language).
For compatibility, Excel 2007 still supports the old file formats so that you can continue to share your work with those who haven't upgraded to Excel 2007.