Windows 8 Bible

Working with Windows 8 Apps

If you are working on a traditional PC with Windows 8 installed, some (potentially many) of your apps will be “traditional” Windows apps running on the desktop. But, as more and more Windows 8 apps are published, you’ll no doubt have several favorite Windows 8 apps. On touch devices such as tablets and smaller handhelds, many of your apps will probably be Windows 8 apps.

In general, working with a Windows 8 app should be fairly intuitive. The gestures and actions you use to work with the Start screen and other Windows 8 screens are the same for apps. For example, to move back and forth between visited pages in IE, swipe left or right in the IE app.

Rather than focus on specific Windows 8 apps, this section of the chapter focuses on actions and methods you’ll use in general to work with Windows 8 apps.

Opening and using a Windows 8 app

Opening a Windows 8 app couldn’t really be any easier. Just open the Start screen, locate the app’s tile, and tap or click the tile. If you are working on a non-touch device, and you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can use the wheel to scroll through the Start screen’s tiles. Scroll down to move to the right, or scroll up to move to the left. Then, just click the tile for the app you want to open.

How you work in a Windows 8 app depends entirely on the app, but will rely on the standard touch gestures and mouse actions described earlier in this chapter. To open a Windows 8 app’s app menu (see Figure 2.9), swipe up ...