Microsoft just recently rolled out an updated and refreshed design for its Office Blogs and apparently the company has also rolled out an interface overhaul for Office Web Apps. For those that do not know, Office Web Apps feature free versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote that can be used by anyone to edit files on SkyDrive.
“We did introduce some Office Web App updates earlier today. As we’ve said in the past, we’ll continue to bring the Office features that you value most to the Web and this is just one example of that,” a Microsoft spokesperson stated. Microsoft has yet to officially announce the new design change.
The new design features a flatter look, giving the navigation bar a tweak as well as a flatter design to the Ribbon menu across all the apps. “Microsoft has also changed the design of the top menu across all the apps and cleaned up the design of the Ribbon menu across the board. The occasional semi-skeuomorphic icon remains in the Ribbon, but for the most part, the Office Web Apps have now gone completely flat,” TechCrunch notes.
Microsoft has implemented a minor, but useful, tool in the Word and Excel apps, allowing users to enter a query in a search bar that’s titled “Tell me what you want to do.” You can search across all the app’s tools and invoke actions. For example, you can bold texts or find and replace right from the search results. This feature will arrive for the PowerPoint web app soon.
Try it out and see what you think! Let us know in the comments below if you like these new changes.
Further reading: Microsoft, Office Web Apps
