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Metro

410

Android tries to find visual identity through 'Material Design', borrowing from Microsoft

By Daniel Rubino, Wednesday, Jun 25, 2014 at 2:14 pm EDT

Since its inception, Windows Phone has had a bold visual design language defining the core experience of the OS. Initially called Metro, Modern design gets its influence from the work of Massimo Vignelli, who famously made the NYC Subway maps, and the school of Swiss Style started in the 1950's. At Microsoft, the lineage starts with Windows Media Center, up through the ill-fated Zune HD, finally spearheading the core design of Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8.

Android though, has never had such luck. The UI has changed significantly since Android 1.0, often evolving around a very loose, almost ad-hoc set of principles. Things began to change once ex-Palm design head Matias Duarte joined the Android team back in 2010. Since then, we have seen attempts at a new language, notably the Roboto font for Android 4.0.

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108

Windows Phone Design team on 2015 OS redesign rumor: LOL

By Daniel Rubino, Friday, Jul 19, 2013 at 11:23 am EDT

Earlier this week, a rumor was started by a certain “journalist” who shall remain unnamed stating that the Windows Phone team was looking to “start over” in 2015, including a re-write of the OS and that they were even considering toying with the Modern look of the UI.

A few of you tipped us on it, asking us to cover the news but it’s a safe bet that if we don’t re-report something, it’s because we think it’s garbage. Indeed, this “journalist” has been more wrong than right in his ambitious predictions about Microsoft, Nokia and Windows Phone in the past, but other tech sites are addicted to his bold headlines.

Now, the Windows Phone Design team, responsible for the UI and "theory" behind Windows Phone, has evidently had enough, as they have publicly rebuked the rumor via their Twitter account.

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94

Windows 8.1 screenshots leaked, redesigns showcased

By Michael Archambault, Sunday, Jun 16, 2013 at 2:44 pm EDT

Today a collection of screenshots, showcasing redesigns within key Windows 8.1 applications, were leaked online. The shots showcase changes in the Windows Store and Xbox Music, along with brand new apps including a calendar, alarm clock, and voice recorder.

The newly leaked store design showcases an application “shelf” with more upfront descriptions. The new UI introduces more text to the interface and while it is still inspired by Microsoft’s modern design, it doesn’t have the close-feeling connection to the Windows Start screen that it previously had.

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458

Meet the latest Windows Phone incarnation, iOS 7

By Michael Archambault, Monday, Jun 10, 2013 at 5:11 pm EDT

Today has been an exciting day for both video gamers at E3 and Apple fans at WWDC. Despite what you may think, I actually followed Apple’s event just as closely as Microsoft’s press releases on the Xbox One.

As I sat on our sister site, iMore.com, and watched the WWDC Live blog I realized that I absolutely loved the updates to iOS7. Apple decided to go for a “flat” design and get rid of faux textures for a completely modern approach. As I watched on and became more excited I realized something; flat design, no faux textures, and Bing integration – this was Windows Phone.

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11

Metrofy all the web with these browser extensions

By Sam Sabri, Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 1:27 am EDT

File under fun. Like most of you, we spend a lot of time staring at some screens throughout the day. Typically our Windows Phone device and computer are the ones that get the most action. You love the look and feel of Windows Phone and get that same familiarity in Windows 8. But what about in the wild web? You don’t have much control over how a site looks. Or do you?

If you want to make your web browsing experience on the desktop a little more like Windows Phone check out the following extensions for Chrome. Yes, Chrome, mostly because Internet Explorer doesn’t support add-ons/extensions at the moment like Chrome does. We’ll be making Reddit and the general web a little more “Metro”.

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27

Spice up your networking with some Metro business cards

By Rich Edmonds, Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 5:11 pm EDT

Ever fancied spicing up your networking when handing out personal information? You can now enjoy that Windows Phone look with some business premade cards. These beauties, compiled by 1800PocketPC, are particularly useful should you not be incredible at graphic design. What's more is that you'll be promoting Microsoft's new design language.

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115

Former Experience Designer for Windows Phone, Arturo Toledo, tells you why the new Facebook app is still very Modern

By Daniel Rubino, Friday, May 3, 2013 at 12:27 pm EDT

With the arrival of the new Facebook beta app for Windows Phone 8 this week, the discussion immediately focused on two aspects (1) functionality (2) design. The first one is one of those “in motion” issues that all betas face, meaning some functions may yet have been added (especially when combined with the ever changing feature set of the Facebook ecosystem). The second though ranges from personal opinion to a higher discussion of Design Principles.

More specifically, the question of whether the new Facebook app is “Metro” enough (or whatever you want to call the Modern UI Design Principles that runs through Windows Phone) has become one of the hot topics amongst commenters.

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13

Get up to design speed with this handbook for Windows 8

By Sam Sabri, Monday, Apr 22, 2013 at 5:16 pm EDT

We don’t cover too much on the topic of design around here, but this was too handy to pass up for developers looking to do more with Windows 8. Ratio Interactive (http://www.ratiointeractive.com/) is a digital agency up in Seattle that makes various apps for companies across a lot of platforms.

But lately they’ve been doing some kickass work with Windows 8 apps. Between running contests around app design and actually making apps (AllRecipes and various Conde Nest properties) they know a thing or two about Windows 8.

So here’s a handy handbook for Windows 8 design from the Ratio Interactive team.

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5

Metro newspaper app for Windows Phone fixed

By Sam Sabri, Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 at 6:12 am EST

It was barely over 24 hours ago that we reported issues with the Metro newspaper app and its inability to pull content down from their servers. At that time we reached out to the developers and received word that an update was coming to fix it. Well, here we are and a fix has already been pushed out to the Marketplace and is ready for you.

If you’re from the UK you’re probably fairly familiar with Metro, but for those of us on the other side of the pond it’s your typical news outlet – with the latest headlines in news, sports, culture and more. It's a nice Windows Phone app for all our friends in the UK.

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46

Meet Your Match Challenge website now live - will you switch?

By robert brand, Tuesday, Nov 27, 2012 at 8:29 am EST

We had previously reported on Ben Rudolph kicking off the newest campaign to convince non Windows Phone users there is another way…

The new website brings the existing videos into one place and even uses live tiles to allow you to select each video. Ben takes on Android and even turns around a potential iPhone 5 customer, if anyone can, Ben can. They need one Ben Rudolph in every mobile phone store, who could say no?

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12

HTC 8X advertised in the Metro UK newspaper

By Rich Edmonds, Friday, Nov 2, 2012 at 10:38 am EDT

HTC has kicked off its advertising campaign for the Windows Phone 8X, the company's flagship Windows Phone 8 handset, with an advertisement spotted in today's Metro newspaper. Running the latest version of Microsoft's mobile OS, the 8X packs a punch with the latest specifications and included Beats Audio.

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26

Nextgen Reader for Windows 8 now available in the Microsoft Store

By robert brand, Thursday, Nov 1, 2012 at 7:22 am EDT

Nextgen Reader for Windows 8 now available in the Microsoft Store

Windows Phone always leant itself to reading and apps designed around reading due to its foundation being built on those Metro design principles for typography and layout.

Nextgen Reader has been a popular favourite with us at wpcentral and with readers alike. We just had a note today from the developers to say they have rescued Windows 8 users by launching their app in the store.

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69

Metro apps to be called Windows 8 Store applications [Updated]

By Daniel Rubino, Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 at 6:12 pm EDT

Update: Microsoft has informed us that the actual name is 'Windows Store Applications', so there is no '8'. We're not sure if that's any better though.

We’re still here at Microsoft’s BUILD conference and during a talk on ‘the Microsoft Design language’, it was clarified during the Q&A session that Metro apps are now called “Windows 8 Store Applications”. Yeah, that’s a mouthful.

Microsoft’s Will Tschumy answered a question from the Verge’s Tom Warren on the matter and revealed the name to a laughing crowd. Clearly a room full of developers wanted to know what to call this design philosophy and they certainly got their answer.

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10

24 Weeks of Windows Phone Design now available to download

By robert brand, Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 at 11:21 am EDT

 

Windows Phone brought with it Metro, the design principles that have gone on to reach every aspect of Microsoft’s product line up. For those who have a keen interest in Metro and UX (user experience) in general you may have been following the excellent series by Arturo Toledo that explores all things Metro.

Arturo is a former senior user experience designer at Microsoft, the series has been fascinating and well worth a look.

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25

Skype App for Windows 8 announced and shown off in video and it’s looking great

By robert brand, Monday, Oct 22, 2012 at 11:43 am EDT

This week is going to be big news for Windows 8, today Skype have released a post about the coming metro style Windows 8 app.

Set to release at the same time as Windows 8 on the 26th the app looks set to seamlessly integrate with the OS in the People hub and provide “always on” connectivity. On top of that, this looks like one of the prettiest Windows 8 apps we have seen, showing that the metro style when done right is simply gorgeous.

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44

Microsoft launches Windows 8 this week – what to look out for

By robert brand, Monday, Oct 22, 2012 at 10:17 am EDT

Yes folks it’s finally here, the week that will see Microsoft launch Windows 8, spearheading its massive 2012 product launch schedule. It’s keystone of the ‘Three Screens & Cloud’ play and this is where we see how it’s all going to shake out.

The pre-orders for Surface have started and even run dry in some regions, invites to the various launch events have gone out and now it’s time to put all the cards on the table. With such a wide ranging spruce-up of the entire product line from Xbox to Windows Phone, we’re in for a wild ride. Windows 8 will be at the centre of these launches, not just because it’s Windows but because with it we will see a whole host of services light up to enable the entire eco system.

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30

The story that wasn't. Microsoft is not banning apps with Metro in their name.

By Daniel Rubino, Wednesday, Aug 15, 2012 at 7:41 pm EDT

One of the bigger stories to catch fire today was the idea that Microsoft were to start denying Windows 8 app certification to developers who use ‘Metro’ in their app's name. 

The story originated from documentation found on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) that was quite crystal clear on the matter stating such apps will “…fail certification and won't be listed in the Windows Store”.

That wording has now been removed.

We are now getting confirmation through various channels that the wording found today in that documentation had not been added recently, meaning there has been no change in policy. Instead what we are looking at is documentation that had not been updated to reflect the official Windows 8 app certification requirements.

Yup, it was in error.

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