Check out Microsoft’s brand new user interface for Office

Microsoft has pushed out a new set of preview apps for Office mobile, and these fresh offerings come with a big change – the interface has been graced with Microsoft’s new Fluent Design System (which will also be arriving in Windows 10 with the major update schedule for this autumn).

Fluent Design (previously known as Project Neon) aims to capture a more ‘modern’ look for the interface across Windows and Office, introducing elements like transparency and blur effects (think Windows 7’s Aero Glass).

Indeed, the Word, PowerPoint and Excel mobile apps now benefit from the Acrylic blur effect in some parts of the interface, and the reveal highlight effect has also been introduced.

Image Credit: Vitor Mikaelson (via MS Power User)

Image Credit: Vitor Mikaelson (via MS Power User)

First taste

This is just a first taste of the redesigned interface, and it’s only available with the preview versions of these apps, those used by early testers (or Office Insiders as they’re otherwise known).

Obviously enough, we can expect more features to crop up in Office as time goes on, and indeed in Windows test builds on the run up to the big Fall Creators Update (or Autumn Creators Update as it will apparently be known in the UK).

A couple of weeks back, Microsoft unleashed its Workplace Analytics feature for Office 365 enterprise customers, an add-on which aims to boost employee productivity – but possibly also gives rise to concerns about how closely the working habits of staff members can be monitored.

Via: MS Power User

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).