Erik Klimczak and Matt Hidinger of Clarity Consulting give a partner perspective on real-world Windows 8. Slides were presented at the Windows 8 Developer Launch Event in Chicago
We’re going to talk about Win8 from 3 major perspectives. We’ve been designing and developing a ton of applications in the last 6 months and we’d like to bring a “From the trenches” perspective We’re excited about this for many reasons. And we hope you get excited too. (1 min)
Business Section (3-5 min)
As a consultancy, Win8 excites us for a handful of reasons, which we’ll briefly talk about
We leverage Design assets between the 3 screes.Not only does this cut down the amount of work, it helps create a very consistent experience for brands (which is not the case today)
Traditionally we see 3 silo’d groups in IT. Mobile, Web, and Desktop,They don’t share assets nor talent. Our guys have no problem moving between Phone, xbox, and win8. Knowledge between the platforms is very transferable.Its not Copy and Paste, but you should have no trouble getting up to speed regardless of your background
Design Section 5 min
Why we like MetroDesign is a first class citizen (even inLOB)Consistency across screens. Our friends at apple nailed this, and Android seems to struggle. This is key for creating a premium user experience A Developers kind of Design: To the point
There is a premium on design. Whether you like it or not. Even in LOB apps...I know what your thinking…MS is making design accessible to everyoneMS is giving you the tools to create software…people actually want to useAnd to those of you that are still naysayers of design…
That guys is clearly a designer.
HOW?Touch-first controls (feel)Built-intouch (accurate) touch sizesPersonality Animations (character)This requires a ton of finesse Default styles (look)Snap built in, Type Ramp set by defaultMargins / Spacing
So what does this mean me?Metro design language and win8 opens door for non-designersYou can make visually compelling applications without have traditional design skills-Graphic design elements like gradients, drop shadows, an reflections require some design skill.
When new folks start working on this platform I usually give them the 3 “golden rules” of designing for metro
You’ve heard this already. And you’ll hear it again. This somewhat of a mind shift. You will have some natural tendency to put drop shadows and gradients on things, just stop yourself..you’ve end up removing them.
Pixel perfect controlinstant agility
Strongly typedStructuredReliableSafe
Not as safeNimble / RapidQuickly get from A to BNot as protected or structured
BustedDevelopers digging around trying to fix it
3 MinThese are just roles not people. Depending on the size of your organization you may have many people fulfill these roles….Or it may be just one super person