A Metro style app is a new type of application that runs on Windows 8 Release Preview devices. Read on if you want to learn more about what makes Metro style apps different from traditional desktop apps.
Apps have one window that supports multiple views
Unlike traditional desktop apps, a Metro style app has a single, chromeless window that fills the entire screen by default, so there are no distractions.
A Metro style app can support different layouts and views to create a fluid and harmonious experience across a variety of form factors and display sizes.
Apps work great with touch and pen input
Metro style apps work smoothly with a variety of input sources, including touch, pen, mouse, and keyboard input. You can use a single set of events that work for all these input sources. Metro style apps get a set of default styles that ensure UI elements work well for touch scenarios.
Apps can talk to each other
App contracts are a way for users to seamlessly search across and share content between different apps. They extend the usefulness of your app by eliminating the need to work with varying standards or app-specific APIs to access data stored or created by another app, all while keeping users in your branded experience. You don’t need to know anything about the target app other than its declared support for the target contract – it just works.
Apps have new controls and UI surfaces
Metro style apps provide several new controls that make it easier to create a great user experience. Two of these controls are the app bar and the charms.
The app bar
Outside of the app window, the app bar is the primary command interface for your app. Use the app bar to present navigation, commands, and tools to users. The app bar is hidden by default and appears when users swipe a finger from the top or bottom edge of the screen. It covers the content of the app and a user can dismiss it with an edge swipe, or by interacting with the app.
The charms
The charms are a specific and consistent set of buttons in every app: search, share, connect, settings, and start. We believe these are core scenarios that every user wants to do in almost every app they use. Users can:
- Search for content located your app or in another app, and they can search your app’s content from another app.
- Share content from your app with people or services.
- Go directly to the Start screen.
- Connect to devices and send content, stream media, and print.
- Use settings to configure your app to their preferences.
Apps use tiles instead of icons
When the user installs your app, it shows up as a tile on the Start screen. Touching or clicking the tile starts the app.
Your app can deliver content through its tile, even when its not running. Using these live tiles, your app can provide useful, at-a-glance data to the user, while minimizing battery usage.
Apps can configure the system to periodically ask for updates from a web service, regardless of whether the app it running. Apps can also configure Windows Push Notification Services (WNS) to send messages directly from a web service to the live tile.
Write your app in a language you already know
You can create Metro style apps using the languages you’re most familiar with, like JavaScript, C#, Visual Basic, or C++. You can even write components in one language and use them in an app written in another programming language.
Metro style apps can use the Windows Runtime, a native API built into the operating system. This API is implemented in C++ and supported in JavaScript, C#, Visual Basic, and C++ in a way that feels natural for each language.
You sell your app in the Windows Store
The Windows Store makes your apps available to millions of customers around the world. You write your app once, set the price in your local currency, and the Windows Store can make it available in the worldwide marketplace in 100+ languages.
The Windows Store makes it easy to distribute, update, and get paid for the apps that you develop.
What’s next?
Now that you’ve learned what a Metro style app is and how it’s different from other types of applications, you’re ready to Get the tools.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh974576.aspx
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