Windows 8 Tiles : FAQs and Best Practices
This article gives you a brief introduction on Windows 8 , checks the Dos and Don'ts for a tiled app to get approved in Windows 8 store. And how to choose between a square tile and a rectangular tile.
The status of this resource is Pending and require some modification by the author.
FAQsQ1. What is a tile?
Ans : A tile is an app's representation on the Start screen.
Q2. What is a tile used for?
Ans : A tile is basically used to represent necessary information to user , when the app itself is not running.
Q3 : Where can I place tiles?
Ans : You can either place a tile in Windows 8 start screen or you can place the same in the lock screen.
Q4 : How can I launch an app from a tile?
Ans : a. Tap b. Click
Q5 : How can I represent a tile?
Ans : A tile can be a wide tile or a square tile.
Tile can be a text only tile , image only tile or a tile with text + image.
Tiles can be single framed or two stacked framed also called as peek template.
A tile can be a live tile or a static tile
Q6 : What is a live tile?
Live tiles are the Windows 8 tiles , which shows a changing data like stocks , weather , news instantly even when the application itself is not running. Live tiles can sit on the start screen , they can also be used inside the app. Live tiles use notifications
Q7: What are type of information's that can be put on live tiles?
a. News
b. Finance
c. Trend
d. Sports
e. Travel
f. Weather
g. Productivity
h. Photos
Best Practices:
a. Dos : Tiles should be simple and informative.
Don'ts :Do not use colors on tiles unnecessarily.
b. Dos : Use live tiles , when you think the user needs to be updated with new data.
Don't : Don't overuse live tiles if they are not really necessary.
c. Dos : Select between a square tile and a wide tile with proper judgement.
Don't : Don't put a wide tile , just because you want more space on the desktop.
User can always readjust your tile size.
d. Dos : Give appropriate text to your tile. The text should be contextual.
Don't : Don't add user interaction texts on tile like 'click' ,'press' ,'tap' etc
e. Dos : Use Live tiles to show application notifications.
Don't : Don't use live tiles to show advertisements.
f. Dos : Information on tile should be useful and intuitive.
Don't : There shouldn't not be lot of unnecessary text in live tile.
Deciding between a square tile and wide tile:
By default a windows app applies square logo. In case you want to provide a wide logo with your app , you can specify the wide logo image in the app manifest. In case a wide logo image is not defined in the manifest the tile cannot be widened but in case a wide logo has been set , user can always resize it to square logo.
You should use a wide logo ,
a. when you need to display a large content of data.
b. when you have a live tile which gets refreshed frequently.