Professional Visual Basic 2012 and .NET 4.5 Programming

Requirements for Apps in the Windows Store

Microsoft has rarely imposed any significant constraints on the applications produced by their tools. User interface guidelines are also rare in the Microsoft arena. Early versions of Windows had some very general guidelines back in the 1990s, but they were not made detailed and prescriptive as the Windows ecosystem grew.

That is changing with Windows 8. With applications that will run on WinRT, which are currently called Windows 8 Style Apps, there are both firm constraints and detailed, prescriptive user interface guidelines.

During the beta period of Windows 8, you may have heard a different word used to describe Windows 8 Style Apps: “Metro.” This term was first used for Windows Phone 7. However, legal restrictions barred Microsoft from using the term in production for Windows 8.

The user interface design guidelines for Windows 8 style apps were discussed in chapter 13. This chapter concentrates on the technical and content requirements for app certification, which your application must meet to be deployed via the Windows Store.

The app certification requirements for Windows 8 are quite detailed. They are also expected to evolve steadily. This chapter will therefore not attempt to cover all the details. The URL noted earlier, http://bit.ly/Win8CertRequirements, should guide you to the most current version of the requirements.

However, this chapter summarizes some of the most important requirements you will need to know as you begin ...