If you’re working on a traditional PC with Windows 8.1 installed, some (potentially many) of your apps will be “traditional” Windows apps running on the desktop. But, as more and more Windows 8.1 apps are published, you’ll no doubt have several favorite Windows 8.1 apps. On touch devices such as tablets and smaller handhelds, many of your apps will probably be Windows 8.1 apps.
In general, working with a Windows 8.1 app should be fairly intuitive. The gestures and actions you use to work with the Start screen and other Windows 8.1 screens are the same for apps. For example, to move back and forth between visited pages in IE, swipe left or right in the IE app.
Rather than focus on specific Windows 8.1 apps, this section of the chapter focuses on actions and methods you’ll use in general to work with Windows 8.1 apps.
Opening a Windows 8.1 app couldn’t really be any easier. Just open the Start screen, locate the app’s tile, and tap or click the tile. If you’re working on a non-touch device, and you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can use the wheel to scroll through the Start screen’s tiles. Scroll down to move to the right, or scroll up to move to the left. Then, just click the tile for the app you want to open.
How you work in a Windows 8.1 app depends entirely on the app, but will rely on the standard touch gestures and mouse actions described earlier in this chapter. To open a Windows 8.1 app’s app menu (see Figure 2.9), swipe up from the bottom or down from the top of the screen. Or, right-click in the app. The app menu offers options for the current app.
At first, it might seem that you can view and work with only one Windows 8 app at a time, but you can actually snap two apps to the screen at once and easily switch between them. You can even view the desktop and any running apps there side-by-side with a Windows 8.1 app.
To snap two Windows 8.1 apps to the screen, follow these steps:
In general, working with a Windows 8.1 app should be fairly intuitive. The gestures and actions you use to work with the Start screen and other Windows 8.1 screens are the same for apps. For example, to move back and forth between visited pages in IE, swipe left or right in the IE app.
Rather than focus on specific Windows 8.1 apps, this section of the chapter focuses on actions and methods you’ll use in general to work with Windows 8.1 apps.
Opening and using a Windows 8.1 app
Opening a Windows 8.1 app couldn’t really be any easier. Just open the Start screen, locate the app’s tile, and tap or click the tile. If you’re working on a non-touch device, and you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can use the wheel to scroll through the Start screen’s tiles. Scroll down to move to the right, or scroll up to move to the left. Then, just click the tile for the app you want to open.
How you work in a Windows 8.1 app depends entirely on the app, but will rely on the standard touch gestures and mouse actions described earlier in this chapter. To open a Windows 8.1 app’s app menu (see Figure 2.9), swipe up from the bottom or down from the top of the screen. Or, right-click in the app. The app menu offers options for the current app.
Snapping apps on the screen
At first, it might seem that you can view and work with only one Windows 8 app at a time, but you can actually snap two apps to the screen at once and easily switch between them. You can even view the desktop and any running apps there side-by-side with a Windows 8.1 app.
To snap two Windows 8.1 apps to the screen, follow these steps:
- Open the two Windows 8.1 apps.
- Switch to the app you want to be “primary,” and consume most of the screen space.
- Open the app thumbnails and drag the app to the left or right side of the screen.
Either action snaps the second app to the left or right of the screen.
Figure 2.10 shows two Windows 8.1 apps snapped side-by-side.
As we hinted at above, you can snap a Windows 8.1 app beside the desktop, enabling you to see and work with a traditional Windows app on the desktop while also using a Windows 8.1 app. For example, Figure 2.11 shows the Windows 8.1 Finance app snapped beside the desktop.
To snap the desktop and a Windows 8.1 app, open the Windows 8.1 app and the desktop from the Start screen. If you want to work with a desktop app, open it from the desktop. With either app in the foreground, open the app thumbnails and drag the other app to the left or right side of the screen. If you look closely at Figure 2.11, you’ll see a drag handle between the two apps. Drag this handle to resize the apps, shrinking the primary app and expanding the secondary app. Drag the handle in the other direction to change the primary and secondary again.
If the desktop is primary, dragging the handle to resize the Windows 8.1 app causes the desktop to appear at the edge of the screen as a set of thumbnails showing the running desktop apps. You can switch to a desktop app simply by tapping or clicking its thumbnail. It then becomes primary and the Windows 8.1 app shrinks to become secondary. To show only one app on the screen, drag the handle to move the unwanted app off the screen.
If the desktop is primary, dragging the handle to resize the Windows 8.1 app causes the desktop to appear at the edge of the screen as a set of thumbnails showing the running desktop apps. You can switch to a desktop app simply by tapping or clicking its thumbnail. It then becomes primary and the Windows 8.1 app shrinks to become secondary. To show only one app on the screen, drag the handle to move the unwanted app off the screen.
Switching between apps
Experienced Windows users will be happy to learn that the methods you’ve used in the past to switch between apps are still available in Windows 8.1. For example, you can press Alt+Tab to view a list of running apps (see Figure 2.12) and select one to bring to the foreground. You can also press Windows+Tab to open a task switcher at the left of the screen showing thumbnails of your running apps (see Figure 2.13). Continue pressing Windows+Tab until the desired app is highlighted; then release the keys to switch to that app.
Thanks to the touch-based nature of Windows 8.1, you also have some new ways to switch applications on touch devices:
- Swipe in from the left edge of the screen and release to cycle between running apps. The desktop and all apps running on the desktop are treated as a single app for the purpose of switching in this way.
- Swipe in from the left edge, hold, and then move your finger back to the left until the app thumbnails appear. Then, tap the app you want to use.
- Move the mouse cursor to the top left of the screen, and then move the mouse down to display the app thumbnails. Or, simply click in the upper-left corner of the screen to switch to the next app.
- Move the mouse cursor to the bottom left of the screen, and when the Start screen icon appears, move the mouse up to display the app thumbnails.
Closing a Windows 8.1 app
It’s easy to close a Windows 8.1 app, although you might not have figured it out on your own. Just grab the app at the top and drag it down to the bottom of the display.
This method isn’t all that intuitive, but it’s the easiest way to close a Windows 8.1 app, once you know the method exists. When using a mouse, just move the cursor to the top of the app until the pointer changes to a hand; then click and drag the app to the bottom of the screen. When using a touch device, swipe down from the top to the bottom of the screen. The app should close.
This method isn’t all that intuitive, but it’s the easiest way to close a Windows 8.1 app, once you know the method exists. When using a mouse, just move the cursor to the top of the app until the pointer changes to a hand; then click and drag the app to the bottom of the screen. When using a touch device, swipe down from the top to the bottom of the screen. The app should close.
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