Trello is getting serious about work on the desktop with the launch of an official app on the Windows Store. Well, sort of. Rather than putting together a completely new app, Trello has acquired another app, Paws for Trello, and appears to be in the process of rebranding and updating it on the Windows Store (via Aggiornamenti Lumia).
If you're unfamiliar with Trello, the service is best described as a collaboration tool for organizing projects into dedicated boards. Think of it like a digital post-it board for teams with tasks organized with task list made up of individual cards. It's used by companies and individuals for a wide variety of purposes, and we even use it at Mobile Nations for organizing our content schedule.
Up until now, accessing Trello has been limited to either its mobile apps or via a browser. And while browser tabs can work just fine, a native app experience is preferable for some. As part of making the jump to a dedicated desktop app, Trello now supports "more granular" keyboard shortcuts. Desktop notifications are also now native, allowing them to be filtered through Windows instead of your browser. More importantly, Trello as a desktop app provides a dedicated work space that won't get lost in 100 browser tabs you might have open at any given time.
It's important to note that this doesn't appear to be a straight web wrapper. Rather, the app looks to be built on the Electron framework, which lets developers more easily build cross-platform native apps with a cross of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. This is similar in concept to Progressive Web Apps, which are seen as the potential future of apps, and which Microsoft is planning to embrace on the Windows Store soon.
In any case, if you've been waiting for a desktop Trello experience, you can go ahead and grab the app from the Windows Store now. At the time of this writing, the Store listing still appears as "Paws for Trello," but the app itself has been updated with official branding.
Thanks to Alex for the tip!
