Microsoft’s Refreshed Look for Model-Driven Apps

The recent update to model-driven apps has introduced a new, refreshed look that aligns with the latest Microsoft Fluent design system. Let’s delve into the aesthetic and functional enhancements that are not only pleasing to the eye but also enhance usability and efficiency.

What to Anticipate in the Refreshed Experience

  1. Updated Styling: The modern look introduces updated styling in form, view, and dashboard pages, utilising drop shadows and brighter background colours to create an elevated or floating appearance. This visual separation helps focus attention on primary content, enhancing user experience and navigation.
  2. New Fluent-Based Controls: Forms, business process flows, and dialogs now feature new Fluent-based controls, with dialogs automatically resizing based on content, ensuring a smoother, more responsive user interaction.
  3. Power Apps Grid: The introduction of a new Power Apps grid in place of the read-only grid in view and standard dashboard pages offers a modern, data browsing experience with features like infinite scrolling and inline editing using the Enable filtering property.
  4. User-Friendly Setting: The ‘Try the new look’ setting allows end users to toggle between the traditional and refreshed experience, providing flexibility and personalisation in user interaction.

A Closer Look at the Updated Features

  • Command Bar: The floating command bar, aligning with the Microsoft 365 experience, introduces consistent spacing, rounded corners, and elevation, ensuring a clean and modern aesthetic.
  • View Pages: The switch from the read-only grid to the Power Apps grid control (preview) is one of the most notable changes, offering infinite scrolling and a modern data browsing experience.
  • Form Pages: Refreshed headers, tabs, sections, and business process flows, along with updated styling for quick views, card forms, headers, sitemaps, and timeline controls, ensure a cohesive and modernised look.
  • Field Controls: Field controls, such as text input, action input, lookup, and check box controls, are now built and designed using Fluent components, with more field controls set to be modernised in future updates.

Known Limitations

Whilst the modern, refreshed look brings numerous benefits, it’s crucial to note some limitations, such as non-support for the mobile app and mail app, and a move away from classic theme customisations. Users and admins can revert to the old UI or disable the new look across all apps in an organisation, respectively, ensuring flexibility and control in user experience.

As we embrace this innovative update, we at 365 Mechanix are excited about the enhanced user interactions and productivity it brings. Make sure to follow us and check back here for more updates in the future.