Microsoft tests the Windows Live Tiles to make them more interactive

Now you can access the tiles without having to leave the Start Screen

We all had figured out way earlier that the Windows Live Tiles had a lot of potential to grow in some way and now even Microsoft understands that there might be ways in which these Windows Live Tiles might become better and more dynamic and this is especially true for the touch devices. A few researchers of the company in Asia have been working towards making these Tiles even more interactive in some ways.

A few videos have been released which show the result of the researchers’ work and in one of them, the experimental tiles will expand when touched and this will display its contents right on the Start screen. So this means that the app won’t open and you will not have to leave the Start Screen altogether. An example would better explain this scenario. For instance if you touch the email app, then all your mails will be displayed in an expanded view.

The team at Microsoft has also come up with a new feature called Desktop Interactive Tile. This feature lists all the programs which are open on desktop mode, making them easily accessible from the modern UI. While on the desktop mode, this tile can easily be accessed from the sidebar and this is an easy way to launch programs or attach files to emails.

The project’s page had been visible on the company’s website for a while but then it was removed. But ZDNet managed to grab a copy of its official description which said “This project features an Interactive-Tile UI system that enables users to access and manipulate Live Tiles in an interactive way with touch gestures. Interactive Tile’s UI is responsive and flexible to an app’s content and function. Users can provide quick input to the Interactive Tile on the Start screen.

With a perception of Start as an entrance page, Interactive Tiles were introduced to empower the start screen with an intermediate access level to applications.”

source: zdnet