We have just released 'FlyView for SharePoint'!

With a bit of excitement (well, we are truly excited),  I am announcing the release of Aurora Bits' FlyView for SharePoint (Check it out in the Chrome Store) that I, humbly, hope will change the way we use SharePoint today.  It may sound like a marketing slogan but, honestly, based on the initial feedback I have received so far we believe in it. For instance, one feedback from my dear friend Merill (an ex Microsoft MVP) was 

WOW mind blown man. It’s super-fast I can easily see this being very popular and super useful for SharePoint administrators and even end users down the line. I don’t think I can go back to browsing a site manually after this.

So what is this FlyView?

SharePoint offers a great collaboration platform. It stands out from the competition. However, we realised, one thing was holding back SharePoint to unleash its true potential and usefulness, it's out-dated navigation and content discovery mechanism.  We know navigating and finding information within a SharePoint intranet is somewhat slow, involves page loads after page loads and sometimes our content search may end up as a futile search where we simply get exhausted and give up.  We rely on menus and breadcrumbs to help us here.  However, the out of the box, server generated and pre-defined menus are themselves is the problem. As a result SharePoint users start getting frustrated and we hear things like, 'it is just useless',  'If you want to hide something then put it in SharePoint' etc.

That's why we have created FlyView, to spread the love of SharePoint. 

SharePoint = Great collaboration platform 

SharePoint  + FlyView  = Simply awesome. 

As the name suggests, FlyView lets you effectively glide through the layers of SharePoint sites, libraries and folders and find the information you need in seconds (not minutes). FlyView, a javascript based application, installs as a browser extension and then everything happens at client side. It works with any SharePoint intranet site , nothing needs to be installed on the server (though an Enterprise and more advanced version is on its way). 

So how does FlyView work a lot faster than out of the box SharePoint navigation?

FlyView cuts the crap and only reads the minimum raw data from the server required for navigation, previews and actions. It detects a SharePoint site and dynamically creates the fly-out menus as you move forward (or to be exact move your mouse pointer). It doesn't load intermediate pages and you breeze through layers of SharePoint sites. Furthermore it caches the navigation data within a session, so reopening the menus gets even faster. The next trick that adds to the UX magic is responding to mouse pointer's movements. It enables FlyView to fly you through the misty clouds of your SharePoint site structure.

 The story doesn't end here.

It is not just a dynamic menu, but a dynamic dashboard. As you discover your target SharePoint content (a list, library, document or a file etc) FlyView equips you with tools to perform common actions. One such action is document previews. If you are trying to find an image then you can preview the images right there in FlyView. FlyView stays with you as you preview the image and let you continue your search once you are done. Same applies to MS Office documents (Words, Excel, Powerpoint) and Pdf files in SharePoint Online or 2013. 

Once you have discovered your target file or document then FlyView enables you to quickly access the shortcuts applicable to the selected object. You can open the document, edit it, go to settings and download it directly.

and the conclusion :

• Saves time: If an active SharePoint user spends an hour every day using SharePoint then FlyView can reduce this by more than 50%. (how? say with navigating or searching manually you may find a document in 60 seconds, with FlyView you can do the same in 10-20 seconds)
• Saves bandwidth: Reducing the number of page loads means you download less content from the server (+ reduced server load). 
• Reduces annoyances : This is serious, one of the main reasons users do not like SharePoint is because of their 'daily' frustration in failing to 'discover' relevant content in a fast and timely manner. FlyView is the other side of the coin with is fast & responsive UX and speedy content download.  
• Increases productivity: The bottom line, FlyView helps you in focusing more on your core job functions by spending less time in discovering SharePoint content.

What's Next?

The FireFox and IE plug-ins are on their way. Next will be the Enterprise and Pro versions. More details on the upcoming versions will be in my next blog posts.

Watch the demo video below, try the tool, let us know 

www.aurorabits.com/flyview-for-sharepoint/ 

Download Flyview from Chrome Store