WinRT app guide: Step 1: The idea

To read the other steps in the step by step guide for creating a Metr/ WInRT application go here

Let me introduce to you the WinRT/Metro app we will be making in the next few months! I spent a lot of time and made a list with about 20 different ideas, and chose one that is very close to my heart, is fairly easy to make,- and one that can be ‘pimped’ up later. The 1.0 version will be basic but functional.

The app we will be making is called MIH!SP – Make It Happen! Study Planner

It’s an app where you enter in all the things you would like to learn. You will prioritize them, categorizing them, and register the time it takes to learn each thing. The app present statistics to you so you can watch your progression, how you spend your time and how you prioritize, and also evaluate how good you are at estimating the time it would take to learn. The goal of the app is to encourage the user to study, and to study smarter by giving valuable feedback and providing a comprehensive to-do list. Basically to make it happen (studying)!

The planning idea behind the app is based on known goal setting approaches such as SMART goals, Priority Matrix (based again on Action Priority Matrix), and learning approach based on Agile methods with the to-do’s resembling user stories. I won’t go into details on these approaches, but it is a recommended read. I just want to point out that even though the app is quite simple, there is a lot of thought behind it,- and this is what WinRT or Metro apps are all about. It should look/seem simple on the surface, but provide real functionality. Or as we devs say, hide the implementation details ;)

In the next post we will start planning the application, and we will follow the recommended steps by the MSDN guide Planning Your App:

1.Decide what your app is great at

2.Decide what user activities to support

3.Decide what features to include

4.Decide how to monetize your app

5.Decide the UI for your app

6.Make a good first impression

7.Prototype and validate your design

At a later point we will be discussing the Make a Great App article on MSDN, but right now we’ll just make a rough sketch, and get started. I don’t know about you, but I am keen on starting coding! But first, let’s make a plan- it will save us some time and help us reach the goal of publishing the app to the Windows Store.

Comments

Dear Iris,

Do you really believe in WinRT? I'm C++ developer and the majority of apps that I build cannot be develop in WinRT. I think it's the same for MS Office. If Microsoft believe so much in it's new platform, why Office isn't an WinRT app?

I think WinRT is really really cool but I don't believe that desktop apps will disappear. I thought that when Microsoft was talking about C++ Renaissanse we could see a lot of new tools for C++ for desktop apps.

Unfortunatelly I'm still using MFC for C++ desktop apps.

BTW, is there any performance comparisons with C# metro-style apps and C++ metro-style apps?

Thanks. 

Last modified on 2012-08-20