GETTING STARTED
WINDOWS 8 METRO APP DESIGN TIPS 

• 8 traits of great Metro style apps
  Jensen Harris
   
• Tools for building Metro style apps
  Chris Sells, Kieran Mockford
   
• Windows 8 Developer Camps are happening now!
    

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.

Grab the source code and start building your own Windows8 app! Special offer - free forever! What developers are saying about WIndows 8 and mydigitalstructure.com Watch a developer video