The World of Windows

I recently got a new pc and it comes with the new Win8 OS installed. Unfortunately it's the basic version ( of course! ) so I thought of upgrading it for a full experience. I was amazed by the discovery I found: apart from being expensive, which led me to take in account for a downgrade to Win7 (the current OS I'm using and familiar with) the Pro version brings along a downgrade path but I'll have to pay for both; the pro version and the Win7. Go Figure! For all the talk about the advantages of Windows 8 over Windows 7—for example, account sync, better multiple monitor support, and faster startup times—some people just can't get past Windows 8's radical shift in user interface. Some may even want to ditch Windows 8 altogether in favor of Windows 7 after spending a few days with the new OS. In a Monday blog post, usability expert Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group explained in excruciating detail exactly why and how Windows 8 is difficult to use. It wa...

Windows Phone is a software platform that can improve a person’s life. Its ability to do so is determined by the apps that it can run. It’s up to designers and developers to create the apps that meet specific customer needs in a way that’s engaging. People use their Windows Phone under all kinds of situations and for many different reasons. One person may use his Windows Phone primarily to stay connected with his friends while another person may use hers to help manage her busy schedule. Other people may be using their Windows Phones to enjoy a mental escape through games, music, videos, reading, or social networking. Windows Phone Store is where customers go to find the exact app that meets their needs. The Store categorizes apps by their functionality. Some categories are further broken out into subcategories. Examples of the top-level categories are News and Weather, Health and Fitness, Sports, Productivity, Lifestyle, Finance, Travel, Games, Entertainment, Social, and much more...

1.-  Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that, when pressed, can be used to perform a task that would typically require a mouse or other pointing device. Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to interact with your computer, saving you time and effort as you work with Windows and other programs. Most programs also provide accelerator keys that can make it easier to work with menus and other commands. Check the menus of programs for accelerator keys. If a letter is underlined in a menu, that usually means that pressing the Alt key in combination with the underlined key will have the same effect as clicking that menu item. Pressing the Alt key in some programs, such as Paint and WordPad, shows commands that are labeled with additional keys that you can press to use them. 2.- Tips to prevent Windows 7 auto shutdown problem . Windows 7 auto shutdown is one most relevant and frequent issue faced by the maximum number of users. Th...

Design your app's UI to showcase the content. Minimize distraction and help people get immersed in the content by leaving only the most relevant elements on screen. Following these guidelines will help you provide a consistent, elegant, and compelling user experience. Commands App bars:   See Guidelines for app bars . Buttons: See Guidelines for buttons . Check boxes: See Guidelines for check boxes . Radio buttons: See Guidelines for radio buttons . Toggle switches: See Guidelines for toggle switches . Sliders: See Guidelines for sliders . Rating controls: See Guidelines for rating controls . Select control: See Guidelines for the Select control . Time pickers: See Guidelines for TimePickers . Date pickers: See Guidelines for DatePickers . Login controls: See Guidelines for login controls . Navigation SemanticZoom: See Guidelines for SemanticZoom controls . FlipView: See Guidelines for FlipView controls . ListView: See Guidelines for ListView contr...

Snapping and scaling. These features help you create great experiences for every form factor and every viewing option your users have. Flexible layouts: Design for different form factors and let users manipulate the content to fit their needs and preferences. Think of landscape view first so that your app will run on all form factors, but remember that some screens rotate, so optimize the layout of your content for a taller-than-wide view that retains functionality. See Guidelines for layouts . Snapped and fill views: Design for your users' multi-tasking needs. Users want to use your app while they chat, surf the web, watch a movie, or whatever, so make your snapped view useful and maintain context when going between snapped and unsnapped views. See Guidelines for snapped and fill views . Scaling to screens:   Design an app UI that looks great on devices of various sizes—from a small tablet screen, to a medium laptop screen, and all the way up to a large desktop or all-in-...

Use this index to quickly find the user experience (UX) guidelines that can help you create a great Windows Store app.  If you haven't already, you should start by reading Making great Windows Store apps and Planning Windows Store apps . Microsoft design. Windows Store apps are the focal point of the user experience on Windows 8, and great Windows Store apps share an important set of traits that provide a consistent, elegant, and compelling user experience. Layout and navigation: Consider how the layout of your UI affects how users navigate your app. See Navigation design patterns . Layout and commanding: Place commands consistently to instill confidence and to ease user interaction. See Commanding design patterns and Laying out your UI . Layout and page design:   Use the grid to help layout your app pages to adhere to the Windows 8 silhouette. Laying out an app page Choosing a layout for JavaScript apps Animations: Purposeful, well-designed anim...

Have you ever wondered… What search terms are Canadian visitors using to find my site? Which US states do I get most traffic from? Which pages on my site are most popular with visitors from London, England? The “Filter” feature makes it easier for you to answer these questions and many others too. Let’s look at an example… Keyword Analysis – Filter Click “filter” on the Keyword Analysis page to access the available filters for this statistic. The available filters will be displayed like this: Use the “ search term ” filter to isolate keywords (or groups of keywords). In the example below, a bakery website uses this filter to examine those keywords in their stats which include the term “cake”. Use the “ entry page ” filter to identify which keywords result in hits to specific entry pages (aka “landing pages”) of your site. In the example below, we examine which keywords result in hits to the Spanish language landing page on the bakery website.   It’s also possi...