Two days ago Microsoft released a new version of SkyDrive, whilst we knew it was coming it certainly came as a surprise at the speed of which they were able to roll the service out. The new SkyDrive addresses a lot of the complaints people had with the previsions version of the service now with a folder structure/file viewer very similar to Windows Explorer, a much faster system and better photo organisation/viewer. All these changes have been warmly welcomed by everyone I have seen talk about it online.
However, sprinkled through out the new SkyDrive are elements of the Metro UI and no where on SkyDrive is that more apparent than with the photos.
At first glance the Segoe UI font is used across the page, with the Metro UI use being for the number of photos within the gallery. The fact that the Segoe font is used should immediately make you look for further Metro UI influences but as you wait on the page you’ll see the photos within the galleries change. They subtly fade in and out which for users of the Zune PC Software shouldn’t be a new thing as it’s what the album art does when on the now playing screen.
When clicking on a gallery the user is taken to a new view of the photos within.
This grid of photos is very Metro with no chrome on or around the photos. Now you might be thinking that this isn’t all that Metro because they aren’t all squares but Metro doesn’t require all elements to be perfect squares (there are rectangles on Windows Phone 7). All the photos in this view are shown in their original aspect ratio and uses some clever techniques get as many photos on the screen as possible, that in its self is a fundamental Metro rule.
Then clicking on a single photo takes the user to a new slideshow which again features some Metro elements.
If you look to the top left of the screen you’ll see a very Metro icon, this takes the user back to the gallery. I also think the bar at the bottom of the screen is quite Metro-y with a single bar of colour identifying which photo the user is currently viewing. You’ll also notice that there is no chrome on the screen at all with it being possible to collapse the info pane on the right side of the screen.
However, despite there being much of Metro’s influence throughout the new SkyDrive there could be quite a bit more done. For example the slideshow view could use the full screen for the photo rather than having a gap around the photo.
Also from the new SkyDrive I wonder if parts of this design will be seen in Windows 8. The folder/file viewer has been designed t emulate Windows Explorer and yet it looks different in some key areas like the info pane which makes me wonder if some elements seen in SkyDrive are also planned to make an appearance in Windows 8. I certainly hope that the photo folders in Windows 8 will cycle through the photos within on their icon.
How are you finding the new SkyDrive?
