Windows 8 Development Links

 

With the general availability of Windows 8 rapidly approaching (October 26, if you missed the news) I thought it might of benefit to publish a number of handy links for people to use if they’re getting into developing their own apps.

First up, if you’re looking for support, check out this page first: https://aka.ms/StoreSupport. It summarizes some fundamental design and development considerations, then talks about the various ways you might get help.

Second, if you’re keen on publishing your app or game to the Store (and why wouldn’t you be with the massive opportunity that comes with doing so!?), the Store Certification Requirements page is a MUST read: https://aka.ms/StoreReq.

If you’ve actually moved past this step and submitted your app already, but had some bad news that it didn’t pass certification, this page is your friend: https://aka.ms/StoreFix. This document explains what the common errors are and how you might go about rectifying them in your app.

Want to take your development skills to the next level and show people, whether they be prospective employers, your current company or just your peers, that you’re on top of your game when it comes to Windows 8 development? Check out https://aka.ms/Win8Cert for information on the shiny new MCSD for Windows Store Apps certification.

But back to development for my last two links…

First up, if you intend your app to run on ARM devices (aka Windows RT devices), you should definitely check out the whitepaper that’s all about that very topic: https://aka.ms/ARMdev. You’ll find lots of juicy info on how to approach development and testing of apps that will work well on that platform. Personally, if you don’t intend that your app will run on ARM, I think you’re missing out on a very large potential customer group.

Finally, regardless of what hardware you intend your app to run on, keep in mind that not everyone will have a beast machine like yours, so you should always be efficient in your coding to provide the best performance results. https://aka.ms/PerfBest outlines the best practices to improve performance and how to measure your apps performance – another must read for developers of Windows 8 apps.