A New Look for the Pokki Menu

We’re excited to ring in the new year by introducing to you a new look for the Pokki Menu!

Thanks in large part to feedback from the growing base of millions of Pokki users, we’ve given the Pokki Menu a facelift and added new customization capabilities, all about making Windows (especially Windows 8) even better.

Since the launch of Windows 8, we’ve seen over 1.5 million Pokki downloads on the new OS itself and users opening the Pokki Menu an average of 10 times a day. These early numbers demonstrate that users enjoy being able to instantly access and discover apps, straight from the desktop.

At Pokki, we pride ourselves in raising the bar for software design on the PC, to parallel the best mobile and tablet experiences but in a way that feels natural and native to a PC user. We’ll keep striving to make Pokki more fun and efficient as we continue to innovate on the design and functionality, and we hope you enjoy these changes.

Existing users will receive the update over the next few days, thanks to Pokki automatic updates. If you can’t wait – right click on the Pokki acorn icon in the taskbar and select “Check for updates”.

What’s new?

New light color theme

In addition to the existing dark color theme, the Pokki Menu and notifications banners now support a light color theme. This becomes the default theme, however users can switch between themes in the settings panel.

Refreshed layout and design

With the goal to improve usability and speed, we’ve refreshed the Pokki Menu’s layout and design. Changes to the sidebar’s width, new truncation style for favorite items, increase in favorite panel spacing, and increased font sizes are all designed to improve readability.

Another noticeable change is the relocation of notifications from the favorites panel to a drop-down window, which can be opened by clicking on the notifications button to the right of the search box. When new notifications are available, a badge will appear over the button.

Improved search

Search is enhanced with faster speed, increased scope of searchable items, and improved accuracy of results.

Optional Windows taskbar button

We’re pleased to introduce a highly requested feature: the ability to switch the Pokki Menu’s taskbar button from the Pokki acorn to the Windows logo. The option can be toggled from the settings panel.

Favoriting files and folders from the desktop

Files and folders can now easily be added to the favorites panel of the Pokki Menu directly from Windows Explorer. Simply right-click on a file or folder and select “Add to Pokki Menu”.

Sidebar customization

The shortcuts included in the sidebar (e.g. Computer, Pictures), as well as the display of recently used programs are configurable from the settings panel.

That’s not all. We’ve made a handful of other interface changes, and fixed common bugs. For a complete breakdown of the recent enhancements to Pokki, please visit the release notes.

Want to try out the new Pokki? Download Pokki here.

As always, we welcome your feedback and hope you share your thoughts with us in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.