Windows 8 Consumer Preview: How Windows 8 works

Windows 8 Consumer Preview: a fresh start for Microsoft

How Windows 8 works

It’s not just for tablets.

It’s no secret that part of the big “reimagining” of Windows 8 is a massive effort to optimize the entire user interface so that it works well on touchscreens and tablets. But that doesn’t mean the mouse and keyboard have gotten short shrift. The touch interface was largely complete in the Developer Preview—a logical decision, given that the goal of that release was to encourage BUILD attendees to create touch-friendly Metro style apps.

With the Consumer Preview, the mouse and keyboard get their turn in the spotlight.

The touch UI in Windows 8 is all about edges—swipe from the right to reveal the Charms bar, swipe from the left to switch between running apps.

If you use a mouse, the UI is all about corners. Aim the mouse pointer in the lower left corner of any running app (including the Windows desktop) and you’ll see this hint to let you know you’ve found the secret grave where Microsoft buried the Start button. Click that corner to switch to the Start screen.

I was initially confused a bit by this  new behavior. I wanted to move the mouse to the Start screen hint, thinking it was a tile/icon to be clicked. But moving the mouse away from the target in the corner—roughly 16 pixels square—makes that hint disappear. Just click in the corner to make the switch.

The upper left corner functions in similar fashion, showing a thumbnail of the next running app in the queue (counting the Windows desktop as a single app). Aim the mouse pointer at that corner and click to achieve the same effect as swiping in from the left on a touchscreen.

Those corners on the left also lead to a clever new app-switching alternative. Aim at either corner and then move the mouse pointer along the left edge toward the center of the screen. That gesture reveals a row of thumbnails, each representing an open app—with the Windows desktop considered a single app.

You can switch to any app with a click of its thumbnail. The keyboard shortcut for this new app switching bar is Windows key+Tab; you can still use Alt+Tab if you want to see an expanded list of apps where each desktop app gets its own thumbnail.

Aiming the mouse pointer at either corner on the right side displays a ghosted version of the Charms menu. Move the mouse pointer up or down to change the menu background to black and display the labels for each of the five icons, one of which is conveniently labeled Start. (See the side-by-side screenshots at the right.)

So the fastest way to get to search with a mouse is to bump the pointer into the top right corner, slide it down to the Search charm, and click. For Settings, start in the lower right corner and move up to the Settings charm. Clicking Start, of course, has the same effect as pressing the Windows key on a keyboard (or the Windows button on a slate).

Or you could use keyboard shortcuts. If anyone tries to tell you that Windows 8 is only useful on a tablet or other touch-enabled device, you can counter with the fact that Windows 8 has more keyboard shortcuts than any previous version of Windows. According to the Windows development team, every possible combination of the Windows key and the letters and numbers on a standard keyboard are assigned to system shortcuts.

Here are a few Windows 8–specific shortcuts that are worth noting:

• Windows key + C Open Charms bar
• Windows key + I Open Settings pane
• Windows key + Q Search Apps
• Windows key + F Search Files
• Windows key + W Search Settings
• Windows key + period Snap current app to right side
• Windows key + Shift + period Snap current app to left side
• Windows key + comma Peek at the Windows desktop
• Windows key + Z Display app bar for Metro style app

As in the Developer Preview, the Settings pane is context-sensitive. When you click the Settings charm or press Windows key + I, a black pane slides in from the right side of the display.

The six icons on the bottom offer quick control over current settings; click the volume or display brightness icons, for example, to see a slider that lets you adjust either one. The More PC settings link at the bottom of the pane takes you to the Metro style Control Panel.

Options at the top of the Settings pane are specific to the app you’re currently working with—in this case, you can add or change accounts and see permissions for the Mail app.

In fact, this consistency in design—you can find the settings for any Metro style app in the same location, accessed with the same gesture—is one of the big benefits of the new app format.

The coolest new UI feature of all is one that you might not discover right away. How do you close a Metro style app—or for that matter, the Windows desktop, which is just another app? Microsoft argues that you shouldn’t need to worry about using Task Manager, because Windows 8 is vigilant about memory and resource usage with Metro style apps. But if you’re done working with an app or you want to end the desktop session, just aim your mouse pointer at the top of the window until it turns to a hand icon (with a touchscreen, just grab the top of the app). Pull down, and the app shrinks to a smaller window in the center of the screen. Keep dragging to the bottom of the window and the app disappears.

Like so many new features in Windows 8, I can tell you about it, but you really need to experience it for yourself.