14 DAY TRIAL // Following the release of a preview flavor of Office 2013, Microsoft is also set to make available updated versions of its Office Web Apps, also in a preview mode.
The same as the new flavor of the Office suite, the web apps will come with an updated user interface, as well as with a variety of performance improvements.
The new Office Web Apps should be available for testing purposes via the Office.com and SkyDrive.com websites, John Jendrezak, partner group program manager for Microsoft Office, announced in a recent blog post.
According to him, the latest enhancements brought to these apps should provide users with the best-in-class editing, collaboration and sharing capabilities on the web.
Some of the main enhancements that users will benefit from include: Far richer editing - the Word Web App has an all new page layout with much greater formatting capabilities. PowerPoint now supports creating transitions and animations. Excel has dramatically improved chart rendering and an all-new Interactive View that brings the power of Excel to any table of data on the web. OneNote has better navigation and search.
Web Apps wherever you go - the Web Apps are now available on a broader set of devices, browsers and sites. They work great on the latest browsers, including new "touch-friendly" UI controls. Our mobile interface has been redesigned to take advantage of today's smartphone capabilities. The Web Apps are integrated with more services you use all the time, like Exchange, Lync, and Facebook.
Collaboration and sharing - you can now co-author in all four Web Apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote). We've also integrated commenting and sharing into the Web Apps hosted on SkyDrive and Office 365.
Additionally, users should benefit from impressive performance enhancements, as well as from a cleaner, modern user interface, which will distract users less from the content of their documents. Through new animations, transitions feel smooth and fluid.
