Edge and Fluent Design are two of the most vital components of Microsoft’s software strategy of the future, and both are going through their own little evolution.
The design philosophy more so.
Redmond has been working on its Fluent Design System for many a year now, with several of the company’s products and services getting this makeover. What started in Windows is slowly expanding to other products like Office, Xbox, and web services.
Edge, meanwhile, is the proverbial new kind on the block. But the browser, too, is following where the Fluent Design language is leading.
And this is the gist of what the software titan said in a recent comment on its support forum:
“If you browse through the Fluent guidance at the link above, you’ll note that the new version of Edge is aligned with the current direction Fluent is going, and we will continue to evolve along with the design system and Microsoft as a whole.”
This is to say that instead of the transparency effects that many people love, Microsoft wants to focus on following the guidelines laid out by its new design language.
“While Edge may be one of the first to put some of these new Fluent elements into practice, you will continue to see other products across the company update to reflect this direction as well. For example, you’ll notice that the latest Fluent designs are characterized by rounded corners across objects and controls, and the new version of Edge is consistent with that guidance. Another example is that there isn’t a pivotal focus on transparency in the latest Fluent designs, and surfaces of the new version of Edge reflects this.”
The big takeaway here is that Edge will probably not see a revolution in UI any time soon. The major focus will be on evolving the user interface of the web browser based on where the Fluent Design philosophy is heading.
Sound strategy.
