Log in to like this post! 3 of the most interesting UI improvements in SharePoint 2013 DevToolsGuy / Wednesday, January 30, 2013 The Modern UI “Modern” is the new name for what we used to call “Metro.” But this being a 2013 Microsoft product, it of course sports the new standard Microsoft user interface. Does it work better in SharePoint than other Microsoft properties? On the whole, yes. SharePoint 2013 feels slick and modern to use. Even if this is merely a perception (and the usability benefits are minimal) it will make a good impression with users. Drag and drop document uploading SharePoint 2013 allows users to upload documents by simply dragging and dropping. If you use this type of feature in modern web browsers (like Google Chrome) you will understand how much more intuitive it is compared to a standard file upload. Once you get used to it, you forget there ever was an old way. Microsoft has done very well here, and added something that will make a big difference to almost every single user of SharePoint. Brand central administration Our third point is the ability to customize and brand the backend of SharePoint, or “central administration” as it is known. This might seem strange to some; why on earth would you want to brand part of the site few people will see? Well, numerous reasons, consistency being one. But more importantly, SharePoint is often used as a collaboration platform where all users have access to all areas. Take an IT team for example, looking after a large SharePoint farm. They might spend a lot of time in central admin, much more than they would in the frontend. Don’t these users deserve the same branding? They are users all the same.