GETTING STARTED
WINDOWS 8 METRO APP DESIGN TIPS 

Take outs from developer camps:

  • Fluid & Fast
  • Purpose & style
  • Snap & scale
  • A great tile is important to draw in users
  • Contracts (a standard)
  • Connected & alive
  • The cloud is key, people use many devices
  • Embrace metro principles
  • Content before "chrome"
  • Content rules
  • Task bar gone - app bar here.
  • Remove the "chrome" and clutter
  • Own the pixels
  • Typography to create a sense of structure and heirachy
  • 42pt, 20pt, 11pt, 9pt
  • Let the content flow edge to edge
  • Single axis navigation only
  • Ergonomics count
  • Charms live on the edge
  • The user instincts are already there
  • Authentically digital - match the user
  • No need for buttons
  • Integrate commands into the content
  • Everything is a story - an assembly of conversations
  • Symantec zoom
  • Hub, spokes, details
  • Continuity through motion
  • Animations help tell the story
  • Design for touch first
  • Visual and command zones are different
  • 1366 x 768 is the minimum
  • Layout, interactions & navigation

Development:

  • Remote testing over the network is cool
  • WinRT API exposes the core OS services.
  • Automatically projects core api's into each environment
  • Fast and fluid, more than 50ms = Async = await.
  • WinRT optimises apps to conserve power
  • .appx = files, manifest, signature
  • Must ask user for permissions to use services
  • Microsoft ID can be used to storing user preferences to support roaming.
  • WinRT.WinJS Promises for Async coding, using .then
  • Lots of widgets/UI controls to use.
  • Use js Module pattern
  • Contacts are key to assembling your app into the OS - search & share.

 

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LINKS

design.windows.com

dev.windows.com

Metro app design presentations

Metro app design transcript

Developing for "contracts", search & share

Getting Started Windows 8 - building your first application

Source code and design document

What people are saying

Developer videos

Model View ViewModel, MVVM

 
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