Paul Thurrott - Windows 8 Secrets

Figure 6-7:Viewing a subcategory only

• Price filter:With this widget, you can filter by price with available choices being free, free and trial, and paid.

• Sort filter:The sort filter is probably the least obvious but has some useful choices: Sort by noteworthy, newest, highest rating, lowest price, and highest price.

In case it’s not obvious, you can filter the view by any combination of subcategory, price, and sort. So you could, for example, view only noteworthy, free, strategy games if that’s what you’re looking for. This is shown in Figure 6-8.

Figure 6-8:That’s exactly the game I was looking for!

In many of the category groups on the Windows Store homepage, you’ll see colored tiles that represent app lists that are specially curated by Microsoft because they believe they’ll be interesting to users. There are some regular lists that will often be available, such as Top free and Top paid, and then promotional lists that appear from time to time. It’s not hard to imagine lists related to a holiday like Halloween, a major game release like the next Halo, or similar.

In Figure 6-9, you can see six such list tiles mixed in with tiles for individual games in the Spotlight group. These lists include Great apps for Windows 8, All Stars, New releases, Top free, Picks for you, and Rising stars.

When you view a list landing page, it looks a lot like the landing page for a category. There are Back, List title, and App count elements, as well as a grid of app tiles. Some of these list landing pages also include a nice textual description of the list so you can better understand what you’re looking at, as shown in Figure 6-10.

What’s missing here is any filtering: These list landing pages don’t include the subcategory, price, and sort filters you see on a category landing page.

Figure 6-9:List tiles mixed in with tiles for individual games

Figure 6-10:A list landing page

Eventually, it all comes down to an individual app. You can reach an app landing page via a direct link on the Windows Store home screen or by tapping its tile on a category or list landing page. In Figure 6-11, you can see the landing page for an app.

Figure 6-11:An app landing page

These app landing pages, like those for categories and lists, feature some common elements. These elements include:

• Back:A browser-like Back button that will return you to the previous page.

• App title:Non-interactive title text providing the name of the app.

• Navigational breadcrumbs:Below the app title, you’ll see two or more breadcrumb hyperlinks, providing you with both the exact location of the app in the store (like Home → Games → Puzzle) and a way to jump back to any location in the store above the app. That is, you can tap Home, Game, or Puzzle in the previously cited example and navigate directly to one of those locations.

• Overview view:The default view provides one or more screenshots, a description and feature list, and, optionally, other information such as links to the app website, app support, and feedback.

The permissions list is worth looking at. Many apps will require access to your Internet connection, but some of the other possible permissions include access to your home or work network, your music library, and the like.

• Details view:Tap the Details header and the display will change to show you the app’s release notes, supported processor(s) (x86, x64 and/or ARM), supported language(s), permissions, accessibility (if available), and terms of use. A typical app details view is shown in Figure 6-12.

Figure 6-12:The Details view for an app

• Reviews view:Tap the Reviews header and you’ll navigate to each of the reviews, and associated ratings, for the app. This list of reviews is sorted by newest by default, as shown in Figure 6-13, but it can be sorted by oldest, highest rated, lowest rated, or most helpful if desired.

Figure 6-13:The Reviews page for an app

We examine app reviews and other feedback a bit later in the chapter.

• Buy, Try, and Install button(s):In the left pane of the default Overview view, you’ll see one or more buttons related to downloading the app. These include Buy, Try, and Install. We look at app downloading and updating later in this chapter.

If you’re content to simply browse around, the category-based layout of Windows Store is pleasant enough. But oftentimes you’re looking for something specific. And Windows Store does provide a couple of other ways to find the apps you want.

The most obvious way to search for apps is to use the system-wide search functionality that’s available to all Metro-style apps. This occurs via the Search pane, which can be summoned while using Windows Store by tapping Winkey + Q, or by invoking the Charms bar via touch or mouse and then selecting Search. The Search pane is shown in Figure 6-14.

The Windows Store search experience isn’t bare bones. As you type, search suggestions appear at the top of the pane, as shown in Figure 6-15. And in addition to basic as-you-type suggestions, Search provides recommendations for particularly well-regarded apps when appropriate.

Figure 6-14:The Search pane

Figure 6-15:Windows Store Search supports search suggestions and recommendations.

Search suggestions and recommendations appear as you type, in the Search pane. But if you tap Enter, a complete list of search results will appear directly in the app, as shown in Figure 6-16. These results can be fine-tuned much like other landing pages, and they provide widgets for category, price, and sort.

From here, you can tap the app you want, go back to the previous page with the Back button, or tap the subtle Home link to return to the Windows Store home screen.

Windows 8 users have a number of ways in which they can find Metro-style apps on the web. The first is via a developer-provided link. As it does with Windows Phone, Microsoft gives developers a way to link to Windows 8 apps from the web. So developers can create a website for their new app and provide a hyperlink that will actually cause the Windows Store app to launch when clicked, and then navigate to that app’s landing page. This is similar to links you may have seen for iPhone/iPad and Android apps online.