14 DAY TRIAL // In addition to the Windows Store, Metro Internet Explorer 10 will provide users with a great experience when it comes to finding and deploying Metro apps on Windows 8.
Watch the video embedded at the bottom of this article in order to get an idea of how the Metro-flavor of IE10 enables Windows 8 customers to expand their collection of Metro apps while browsing the web.
Rahul Lalmalani, Program Manager, Internet Explorer revealed that for this particular type of scenario Windows 8 users will need to be running the Metro style version of IE10, and not its desktop counterpart, which is also packed inside the next iteration of Windows.
Essentially, while browsing with Metro IE10 in Windows 8, users will be notified if an app for the site they’re visiting is available, or if they already have it installed. This will happen through the browser’s address bar, as you’ll be able to see in the video below.
“You can simply browse to your favorite Web sites and discover they have apps associated with them through the site icon. The site icon turns into a button when IE discovers an app for the site. Tap on it to take you to the app’s description in the Windows Store,” Lalmalani explained.
“When you navigate to a Web site with an associated installed Metro style app, you can directly switch to that app using the site icon button. For example, a friend shares a link to Web content via email or social media and the link launches the Metro style browser. If there is an app associated with this site, you can tap on the site icon and select “Switch to the app,” which launches it and takes you to very same content within the app.”
It’s important to note that on top of actually developing the Metro app for Windows 8, devs will also need to do a bit of work updating the sites used to promote their application.
On the IE blog, Lalmalani offers the code samples and guidance necessary for developers to ensure that Metro apps for sites are properly detected by Internet Explorer 10.
IE10 PP3 is only available for download along with the Windows 8 Developer Preview Microsoft releases in mid-September 2011.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.