Ribbon Area
The Ribbon is the primary replacement for menus and tool-bars. It contains the following elements:
Tabs - Tabs are used to organize controls in the Ribbon around the core scenarios and tasks that users perform with the application.
Groups - Each tab contains one or more groups which show related controls together.
Controls - Different types of controls can be hosted in the Ribbon. Examples of controls are buttons, menus, split buttons, combo boxes, and galleries.
Tabs
Tabs are used to organize controls in the Ribbon around the activities that users perform in the application.
For this reason, every application will have a unique set of tabs which correlate to the activities that users perform with that particular application.
Groups
Groups are used to organize related controls on a tab. They make it easier to browse the Ribbon by formalizing the relationship among controls on a particular tab.
Controls
The Ribbon is capable of displaying multiple types of controls. Examples are: buttons, menus, split buttons, combo boxes, and galleries. In addition, the Ribbon can display both a large and small version of many controls.
By using a combination of large and small controls organized into groups, the relative importance and the relative relationship among controls on the Ribbon is visually conveyed to the user.
This arrangement of controls makes it easy for users to browse the Ribbon and discover new functionality.
Some of the RibbonControls that can exist are :
Simple RibbonControl - It represents a button control on a Command Bar.
Refer to the following topic : Creating Button to do the same.
Pop-up RibbonControl - If there are lot of items to be represented in a single control with each one of them having its own identity, them Pop-up control can be used.
Refer to the following topic : Creating Popup
Button to see a similar representation.Split RibbonControl - This control is divided into two. The top half of the control is a quick access button to the functionality in bottom half of the control. The bottom half of the control displays in the form of popup control.
Refer to the following topic : Creating Split
Button to see a similar representation.Custom RibbonControl - Any kind of control can be added into the ribbon. The below screenshot shows a textbox control.
Refer to the following topic : Creating Custom
Button to see a similar representation.