When Microsoft was designing Windows 8, one
of their guiding principles was “content before chrome.” That is,
Windows 8’s new interface gives top priority to content—apps and app
data—and either hides or eliminates chrome—menus, tabs, controls,
icons, and so on. That way, when most new users first come face-to-face
with the Windows 8 interface, whether it’s the Start screen or a
Windows 8 app, they usually don’t have a clue how to proceed. The lack
of chrome makes for a pleasing, uncluttered screen, but it also means
that you get no clues that tell you how to proceed. The most common
scenario we’ve seen is for a new user to click a Start screen tile to
open an app (which seems like the obvious thing to do), and then have
no idea how to get back to the Start screen. Veteran Windows users try
pressing Alt+Tab, but that doesn’t work. Esc? No, sorry. Alt+F4? Ah,
that does it!
Let’s begin with a tour of the Windows 8 interface. Figure 1
shows the Windows 8 Start screen. Note that, for technical reasons, we
shot this screen at 1,024×768, so the entire Start screen doesn’t quite
fit. If you’re running Windows 8 at a higher resolution, your Start
screen will not only fit, but will have a much different arrangement.
Figure 1. The Windows 8 Start screen.
The default Start screen has four main features:
• Tiles—The rectangles
you see each represent an app on your PC, and you click a tile to open
that app. With the exception of the Desktop tile (discussed in this
list), all the default Start screen tiles represent Windows 8 apps.
• Live tiles—Many of
the Start screen tiles are “live” in the sense that they display
often-updated information instead of the app icon. For example, the
Weather tile shows the current weather for your default location; the
Mail and Messaging tiles display recent email and instant messages; and
the Calendar tile shows your upcoming events.
• Desktop—Arguably one
of the biggest controversies surrounding Windows 8 is the relegation of
the desktop to just another app, represented on the Start screen by the
Desktop tile. This is controversial because most Windows users will
still use desktop programs most of the time, so getting to the desktop
not only requires an extra step, but it’s also harder to work with
because the Start button is gone.
• User account tile—Clicking this tile gives you access to several account-related tasks (see Figure 2), such as locking your PC, signing out of your account, and switching users.
Figure 2. Click your user account tile for quick access to some account features and commands.
The Start screen certainly
demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to content over chrome, because
there’s nary a menu, button, or command to be seen. Obviously, however,
there’s not much you can do with a computer without such interface
elements (just ask any new Windows 8 user!), so where’s the chrome? For
the most part, it resides in two hidden interface elements: the app bar
and the Charms menu, which we discuss in the next two sections.
