Metro Pass 0006 – You Need a Great Tile

(For an overview of this series, please read this post.)

MSDN Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh464920

Today’s Metro Pass is rather short (as compared to other posts). I considered combining it with another post, but I believe that the importance of having a really good, active tile for your application lets this post stand on its own.

If the eyes are the windows to your soul, then a tile is the window to your application. Sitting on the Start screen, it is an extension of the app and can provide much more personal and engaging information than a traditional icon. Invest in designing a great tile to draw people into your app.

• Tailor the content displayed on the tile to the users, and keep it fresh by updating it as app content changes. There is a wide variety of pre-designed tile templates available—select the design that best suits your content type.
• Reference content that lives on your app’s home page, so that users can find it easily after launching the app.
• Use secondary tiles to let people promote interesting, frequently updated sub-sections of content in your app on their Start screen.

I know you might be tempted to just create a brightly colored square and rectangle for your application’s tile, but I encourage you to do a bit, no a LOT, more. Think about how you can display information on your tile to engage the user from the Start screen so they’ll want to open your app to see more.

Net up, it’s always better live!

MSDN Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh464920