Aims at making app building for Windows 8 easier than before

Mar 2, 2012 09:40 GMT  ·  By

Following the launch of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft announced the availability of a new online destination for developers interested in coming up with applications for the platform.

The official Windows 8 app developer blog is meant to keep developers up to date with the latest changes in the software building process for the upcoming Windows 8 platform.

Windows 8 arrives as a re-imagination of Windows, and the building of applications for the platform has changed as well.

Applications for the upcoming OS will be Metro apps (desktop applications will also be supported on specific hardware configurations). To design them, devs will need to have the Windows 8 Consumer Preview loaded on their PCs, and Visual Studio 11 Express Beta tools installed.

For details and discussions on what the building of applications for the new operating system is all about, Microsoft came up with the aforementioned blog.

“Throughout this blog, we will share what we’ve learned and engage in a conversation with you as you enter the new world of Windows Metro style app development,” Aleš Holeček, distinguished engineer on the Windows Development team, notes in a blog post.

Of course, developers can also access the Dev Center and community forums for similar purposes, yet the blog is meant to complement that.

“We’ll talk about the experiences we’ve had building the platform and building apps, pitfalls to avoid, tips and tricks, why we made certain choices in the platform, and anything else we can pass along to help you create amazing apps,” Aleš Holeček continues.

Native Windows applications for the upcoming platform release can be built using web technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript, as well as C#, VB, and C++ with XAML, and hardware-accelerated DX.

Application builders will find it easier to implement Tiles and tile notifications, and will also need less code to come up with AppBars and navigation in their Metro style HTML/JS apps. There is also DirectX support in XAML for developers who need it.

“Developers, testers, and program managers from the Windows development team will be posting to this blog regularly from now through to the release of Windows 8. As with Building Windows 8 and the Windows Store for developers blogs, this is a dialog,” Holeček notes.

“Commenting is encouraged, and we are looking forward to a lively conversation. Of course, the common sense rules apply, so please keep your comments focused on the blog topic, and be courteous to your fellow developers here. For questions unrelated to blog posts, please make use of our forums.”

Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview Build 8250

Download Visual Studio 11 Express Beta