SkyDrive – built for the modern web using HTML5

Have you been to https://skydrive.live.com recently? GO! Check it out! Something’s changed…

  • It’s Faster

Common tasks and scenarios, like clicking on folders and navigating photo albums will go from 6-9 seconds down to 100-300 milliseconds. We took advantage of hardware accelerated graphics, advancements like HTML5 video tag to support playback of H.264 videos (with support for files of up to 100 MB)  And with IE9 on Windows7, you can pin SkyDrive to your taskbar for even faster access to the files you want.

  • Is Easier to Navigate

We brought together all of your photos, docs, group files and files shared with you into one view. We incorporated navigational elements and a layout that is consistent with Hotmail, as well as a common file system you’re used to on Windows and Mac OS so navigating SkyDrive is more intuitive. Last, we removed ads to create room for a pane of information about your files. 

  • Photos are More Beautiful

We got the chrome out of the way to let your photos fill the browser. We added tasteful animation using CSS3 that brings photos to life and presents them in their original aspect ratio, and with the new best fit grid your pictures are laid out so you can see them all, even panoramas. We no longer have pages in the photo viewing experience; you just scroll the page and quickly see your photos fill in. It looks and feels like a native application.

Check out the post over on the Inside Windows Live blog for more information, and if you’re interested you can check out the change log for the update, too!

You can stay up to date with the SkyDrive guys by following them on Twitter, @SkyDrive.