Microsoft has launched a new online store for Windows applications. The company designed this version as an alternative to the current way of searching for Windows applications on the web, and opening links to websites in Windows 10 or the App Store in Windows 11.
The store removed the old React database from the previous web version and Microsoft replaced it with a modern web version with Shoelace, Lit, Vite and C# ASPNET backend.
“The old website was a React database built on top of the old UI framework,” Microsoft engineer Judah Gabriel said in an article for x. We have a new user experience with a carefully designed interface, an easier way to use new apps, Discover, and a host of modern web technologies. “I hope people find it useful.”
The new Windows Store website features several changes, including a new design that follows the principles of the Fluent design system and includes design elements such as acrylic, surface, depth, and motion.
The visual changes also include that the category option for apps is no longer available on the left side of the website and the search box is not displayed there either.
The side menu bar is gone and the search box now appears in the upper right corner. Next to the search bar is a button to open the Store app, which now includes the Microsoft Store logo.
The redesigned Web Store now makes it easier to find Windows apps or Xbox PC games that you can download from the main Store app on Windows.
The new App Store for web won't replace the main Store app. "Think of the new App Store for web as a web interface to the App Store on Windows, with both working together," Gabriel said.
This new web interface could be useful for Microsoft as the company looks to expand its apps and games beyond Windows.
Xbox chief Phil Spencer announced earlier this year that the company was building out a mobile Xbox Games Store in anticipation of companies like Google and Apple having to open their own mobile app stores.
Thanks to the EU's Digital Markets Act, the company could open an Xbox mobile game store in 2024. The store needs to have some sort of web interface to be visible in search results and social media links.