The Modern UI (start screen) tutorial Microsoft should have provided

Microsoft's tutorial video is a farce, and I've decided that if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. Please let me know if I've missed anything. Once I've got a complete list, I'll go ahead and make a 5-10 minute YouTube video that people new to the Modern UI (aka start screen, aka metro) can watch if they want to know how to use it.

This is NOT a thread about whether people prefer the start screen or the desktop. This is a thread that provides a tutorial so that people new to Windows 8 know how to get the most out of the Modern UI if they choose to use it.

In an app

With touch, swipe from the bottom to bring up program-specific toolbars, like the URL and tabs bars for Internet Explorer. Swipe from the right side to bring up the charms for in-app searches and app settings.

With keyboard and mouse, right-click the bottom of the screen to bring up the toolbars. With the keyboard, press Win+C to bring up charms (for searches and settings), or put the mouse in the right-top or right-bottom corners.

To close the app from within the app

With touch, swipe from the top of the screen to the bottom.

With the mouse, move the cursor to the top (it changes to a hand) and drag to the bottom.

With a keyboard, alt-F4.

To close the app from outside the app

With touch, move your finger in then out from the left bezel to bring up a list of open apps. Drag one you want to close to the bottom of the screen.

With a mouse, top-left corner then down (or bottom-left corner and up) to bring up a list of open apps, then right-click on one and select "close." Or drag it to the bottom of the screen.

To go to the homescreen without closing the app

With touch, swipe from the right for charms and hit Start.

With the keyboard, hit the Win key.

With the mouse, left-click in the bottom left corner.

Multitasking

With touch, flick from the left side to cycle through recent apps. Move your finger from the left bezel inward then back out to bring up a list of open apps; you can then tap the one you want. EDIT: there's a setting in charms > settings > change PC settings > general entitled "when I swipe from the left edge...". Turning this off makes a single swipe in from the edge bring up the open apps tray so you don't have to do the in-then-out gesture. I strongly recommend switching this setting.

With keyboard, hold "alt" and press tab to flip through open apps; release "alt" to select one.

With the mouse, left-click in the top-left corner to cycle through recent apps. Or go to the top-left corner then down (or bottom-left corner and up) to bring up a list of open apps and click one.

Split-screen (snap) multitasking

With touch, from within an app, you can snap it to the left or right by dragging down from the top bezel then moving left or right. It will stay snapped when you open another app from the start screen. You can grab a snapped app and move it to the other side or the center, or you can move the vertical border between two apps to maximize one of the two. To snap an app that's not currently on-screen, bring up the left-hand list (in-then-out from the left bezel) and drag it to the left or right side of the screen.

With keyboard and mouse, you can cycle the main open app from maximized to snap right to snap left with Win+[period]. Or you can grab it with the mouse cursor at the top of the screen and drag it to the right or left. For apps not displayed, bring up the left-hand list of apps (mouse to the top-left and down, or bottom-left and up) and right click on one of them to select snap left or snap right.

Customizing the start screen

With touch, flick a tile upward to select it to change its size or un-pin it. Swipe from the bottom of the screen to bring up "all apps" if there are apps that are not pinned that you want to pin. To move an app to another group, drag it upward than move it. To name a group of tiles, shrink the tiles down with a two-finger pinch, then flick a group upward to select it and name it.

With keyboard and mouse, right click on a tile to select it (to change its size or un-pin it). Right-click on the bottom of the screen to bring up all apps, and right-click an app to pin it. Simply drag a tile to move it to another group.

For further customization, such as customizing logins, start screen colors or designs, setting wifi up, or updating Windows, bring up the charms (flick from the right with touch; win+C with keyboard) and select "settings," then do "change PC settings" at the very bottom.

 

i thought you were gonna keep calling it metro till they sued you? nice thread.

 

Haha, true. IT'S METRO DANG IT, METRO METRO METRO!!! Anyway, I've seen several questions in several threads asking basic questions about how to navigate Metro (with either touch or with kb&m). I'm hoping a mod might deem this pin-worthy to save everybody a bit of time.

 

thanks for the info. +1 rep.

 

Update: There's a setting in charms > settings > change PC settings > general that is "when I swipe in from the left edge, switch directly to my most recent app." Disabling this makes a sweep from the left edge bring up the tray of all open apps, so you don't have to do the in-then-out swipe to bring up the tray (and then go in again to drag an app to the side for snapping or the bottom for closing). In my opinion, the left-margin gestures are dramatically easier with this setting switched to "off" instead of "on."

 

What's wrong with pressing F1 in Windows? Plenty of info there. I dunno if it's complete tho, that's why I'm asking..

 

Even the desktop has changed slightly, so this is a helpful thread. The metro UI is not winning favor with many yet, it seems.

Thanks OP!

 

At least on my Duo 11, hitting F1 on the start screen or on the desktop doesn't do anything. It certainly doesn't lead to a tutorial about how to use the start screen.

Once you know how to use the start screen (with either touch or kb&m), it's not unpleasant to use. It's easy to multitask, open and close programs, and use a split-screen interface. And the metro UI is far nicer than the desktop for an 11" screen, since so much of the time what you're working on fills 100% of the screen (the taskbar and the app's toolbars end up turning an 11" screen into about a 9" workspace in a traditional desktop setup, whereas everything is tucked away until you need it in metro, allowing all 11.6" to be used as an active workspace).

But MS did itself no favors by not including a detailed tutorial. It was a week before I knew how to close a start screen app from within that app (drag top-to-bottom or alt+f4). Once I knew, it seemed intuitive (mimics the motion of closing a laptop), but MS gave me no hint that that's what you're supposed to do. Seriously? If every single AAA game I buy includes a tutorial to teach you the control scheme, a frickin' operating system should probably have one too.

 

F1 = Help. It's there, just like in XP and other versions. It may not be a video, but it explains Alt F4, top-to-bottom close, the most important Win + commands and more.

Win + Print Scrn is very useful!
In plain swedish:

 

+1

Good guide. Loving Windows 8 here, though I don't use the Metro (Classic shell). But been in love with Windows phone for a while now, next upgrade HTC W8. Anyway, good guide.