How to look like an 8

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Windows 8 is controversial on a number of levels, not least of which is the new interface. Known as ‘Metro’ for its incubation, the touch-biased interface is now known as ‘Modern UI Style’. Whatever its name, it is a bold style and is likely to be with us for some time as it is shared across Windows Phone and the new Windows operating system.

The Modern UI Style means that the tile-based system can display updated, custom information to a small screen, whether that be a smart phone, a tablet or on the full sized desktop screen. However, Microsoft is also forging a new path with the likes of the Acer Iconia W700 which is described as a desktop replacement tablet.

To allow developers to take full advantage of the new capabilities and design elements of Windows 8, Bill Buxton, principal researcher, Microsoft Research, will share the company’s philosophy on design, multi-touch development, and innovation.

Buxton is a luminary in the world of design, with a column in BusinessWeek.com, and a 2007 book, "Sketching User Experiences". He is also the recipient of many design awards including a Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction lifetime achievement award for his "many fundamental contributions" to human-computer interaction. He was the co-recipient of an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement and was named as one of the ten most influential innovators in Hollywood by the Hollywood Reporter.

In a free event at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday 26 September, Buxton will describe how to create beautiful applications in Windows 8. 

Other presenters include the designers of Cocktail Flow, considered to be one of Windows 8’s most striking apps, Team Distinction. The company’s CEO Balint Orosz will speak about how Cocktail Flow was designed and its evolution from the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone versions.

Attendees will hear from other multi-platform designers on how they designed for Windows 8, how to design for both touch and keyboard and mouse inputs. There will also be information on combining content from other mobile OS apps for the Windows 8 UI.

Microsoft’s local design guru Josh Holmes will show describe how to transform the most ordinary Windows desktop app into an outstanding Windows 8 app.

Techcentral.ie will carry a live stream of the event so check back from 08:30 on Wednesday 26 September if you can’t make the Aviva.

UPDATE: Click here for the live stream page.

Read More: Microsoft Windows 8