It was a big Monday for Microsoft as the company officially revealed and launched a preview version, of Office 2013. Today, the Office related announcements continued with Microsoft revealing its plans for third party developers to make apps for Office 2013 as well as the new version of SharePoint.
In a post on the official Microsoft Server and Tools blog, the company talked about "Napa", the name for its development tool set that will help creators make Office-based apps. The blog states:
As we set out to create developer tools for the new Cloud App Model, we took a fresh look at the overall solution we wanted to give to our customers. We wanted to provide a lightweight, in-browser experience, so that you could quickly build your SharePoint or Office web app in the same browser where they would run. Therefore, we created a first-class development environment called “Napa”, as an online companion to Visual Studio.
The tools can be downloaded by signing up for the the Microsoft Office 365 Developer Preview. Once the tools are installed, app makers can start creating programs for Office and SharePoint in their web browser. The blog goes over how developers will make their SharePoint apps with the browser-based tools, using program languages such as HTML, client-side ASPX, CSS and JavaScript.
Office apps are made with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Microsoft said that they can be built and run in the web app versions " ... no need to install the Microsoft Office 2013 Preview in order to build your first app for Office." There will be an option to run the app in the client version of Office 2013.
Source: Microsoft Server and Tools blog | Image via Microsoft