The Windows Store has a track record of buggy behaviour, slow
loading pages and the most egregious being the downloads
process.
Microsoft is said to be working on a Sun Valley update for
Windows 10 and it’s also expected to include some sort of
improvements for the app store.
Microsoft is now testing Sun Valley-like UI for Windows Store
and it’s currently rolling out to testers in the Windows
Insider program. We were able to get our hands on a preview of
the Microsoft Store update that should be coming soon to all
devices.
Microsoft Store is not getting a radical makeover in this
update. Instead, Microsoft is testing a minor update that
introduces a new ‘compact UI’, more Fluent Design and a new
loading animation.
After the update, Microsoft Store can now display the same
content and menus even when you change the size of the window.
Microsoft is calling it ‘compact UI’ and it’s supposed to
improve the responsiveness of the app store while still using
the web-based container.
Fluent Design update for Store includes a new design element
‘Reveal’, which is visible when hovering over certain elements
(menus, sidebar and buttons) in the store.
As of right now, you can find Reveal in Groove Music, Mail &
Calendar, Windows Start and Action Center, and other
apps/pages.
As you can see in the above GIF, Microsoft is introducing a new
loading animation to replace the blank page which appears when
you click on a store listing.
In a statement, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc confirmed that the
“team is very much aware of the feedback on Store” and users
should expect more improvements in future.
The Windows Store is still a mess
To be clear, Microsoft didn’t really change anything about the
Windows Store in the last five years. The user interface is
still buggy and the homepage is a hodgepodge of apps and other
products.
The performance and quality have also gone downhill after
Microsoft started using a web-based container for the Windows
Store.
The good news is that Microsoft is aware of the problems and
there are plans to improve the Store in the Sun Valley update,
but there’s a catch – we still don’t know if the company is
planning to change the Store in a big way.
Sun Valley update is expected to land in the second of this
year and
Microsoft is expected to tease the next generation of
Windows within the next two months.
