Microsoft Pushes Metro on Win 8 Developers
Microsoft’s message to apps developers: Fit into the Metro style of Windows 8 to make things easier on end users, according to two developers.
Microsoft is trying to change users’ expectations about applications in general by creating an environment that remains similar app to app, according to the developers, and that means complying with Metro style and tapping into features grounded in the operating system itself. (See also “Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Initial Impressions.”)
Dictionary.com, which has written a Windows 8 application for its search service, uses the Windows 8 Search charm — an icon — that appears on the right side of the screen. That way users who want to make a search of the machine don’t have to call up the application and execute a separate search command, says David Wygant, vice president of product and general manager of mobile at Dictionary.com.
Similarly, salespeople go to the same Search charm when they want to look for a given customer’s data in a custom CRM application that has been written by Sonoma Partners for one of its clients.
Over time users will learn that the search charm is where to look for the search function when they are on a Windows 8 machine, regardless of what application they want to search with so long as all developers follow Microsoft’s suggestions, Wygant says. He calls this overarching search feature “persistent search.”