The Definitive Windows 8 Review And User Guide

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The new version of Windows is now available on store shelves, and we have the complete lowdown on Microsoft's latest operating system. Join us as we thoroughly dissect the Windows 8 UI (Metro), Apps, Desktop, Gestures, IE10, SkyDrive, and Windows Store.

App And Navigation Bars

Most apps, and even the Start screen, have additional options that don't fit on-screen or get handled by Charms. In desktop applications, these functions are usually found in the uppermost toolbar or buried within the menu bar. Since Microsoft's Windows 8 UI has none of the usual windowing mechanisms, these functions had to go elsewhere.

Right-clicking in the Windows 8 UI usually brings up one or two bars: the App bar from the bottom of the screen and/or the Navigation bar from the top of the screen. Both the App and the Navigation bars change to suit to the current app. Below are some examples of the options and controls found in these bars.

On the Start screen, the App bar brings up the All Apps button.

The Start screen has no Navigation bar. The Windows Store, on the other hand, has a Navigation bar, but no App bar.

The Bing Weather app has both an App and a Navigation bar. The App bar has controls for changing your home location, using a current location (via location services), switching between Celcius and Farenheit, and refreshing the forecast. Meanwhile, the Navigation bar has options to switch to another location, return to the home location, and see an overview of weather around the world.

In Internet Explorer 10, the App bar, oddly enough, contains navigation controls (back, forward, reload, and a location/search bar). The Navigation bar in Internet Explorer 10 hosts thumbnail shortcuts for each open tab.

Programs use the App and Navigation bars to hide extraneous options, like the menu bars we're accustomed to. Between them (and the Charms bar), we're actually surprised how much room there is for added functionality. And yet, controls are all large enough to easily tap with your finger.

Speaking of, now that we understand how to get around the Windows 8 UI with a mouse, let's look at multi-touch.

Adam Overa
182 Comments Comment from the forums
  • deftonian
    decisions, decisions... part of me wants to upgrade, the other part is afraid there's no turning back. I'll keep reading reviews and eventually make the decision. However, thanks Tom's, and not for posting the review, but for not posting another apple article.... :)
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    Adam, where are the UI performance improvement benchmarks ?

    Win8 is supposed to have everything GPU accelerated, to "better handle big texts" like MS-Word.
    So how will you measure FPS in MS-Word ?Plus, how do you measure the 2D performance improvements, the much touted smoothness of win8 ?
    Reply
  • amuffin
    Too "blocky" for me. :P
    Reply
  • Upgraded to Windows 8 Pro yesterday for $15 on a brand new all in one computer I bought the same day and already, have lots of problems. A lot of my the software I had running on Windows 7 Ultimate worked fine and now don't work at all. The brand new computer I bought with the touch screen... well the touch screen doesn't work and the manufacturer has not driver update to fix it. I'm hoping this will change in time.
    Reply
  • jasonw223
    Just bought 3 copies for my desktop / HTPC / wife's PC. There are quite a few haters out there - but I quite like it. I think if more people gave it a try (like the reviewer) that it would grow on them.

    Also, if anyone wants to buy my Transformer Prime, let me know lol.
    Reply
  • DjEaZy
    ... classic shell FTW!!!
    http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
    Reply
  • agnickolov
    I'm getting an upgrade copy for my wife's computer. She's struggling with Vista, so this should help I hope... (It better, she's getting a 128GB Samsung 830 as well.) For myself I'll likely stick with Windows 7 Ultimate.
    Reply
  • DjEaZy
    agnickolovI'm getting an upgrade copy for my wife's computer. She's struggling with Vista, so this should help I hope... (It better, she's getting a 128GB Samsung 830 as well.) For myself I'll likely stick with Windows 7 Ultimate.... why you are torturing your wife... it's hardly an update from vista to 8... the one is slow but windows, the other is quick, but nothing like windows... be a good husband and get her Win7 too...
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    Without Aero the Windows in Windows 8 looks like something you would see in Windows Windows 9x which makes Windows 7 with Aero look more modern then Windows 8 without Aero. I would even say Windows XP's Luna Windows looks more modern then Windows 8 Windows.

    I gave Windows 8 a chance for months in its preview version and not much has changed since the preview version went to the RTM version and always found myself navigating back to Windows 7. I mean Windows 8 felt like an OS that had things i didn't want then an OS that had things I did want. I didn't want a Modern UI as my main screen. I didn't want MS to get rid of the start menu, I didn't want Aeroless Windows that looks like something you would see on Windows 9x. Sure there are programs like classic shell the helps ease the pain of not having a start menu, but that won't be a gurantee to always work esp if MS tries to block it from working with future update patches to Windows 8. And even if they don't patch it all i'm doing is trying to make Windows 8 look like Windows 7 so why don't just stick with Windows 7 instead if that's the case.

    Now I think Windows 8 is great on touch screen devices, but for pc's it's another story. Which is why I always thought that MS should have made two diff versions of Windows 8 one for touch screens and one for non touch screens without the Modern UI and with a start menu. Those two simple changes would have made a lot more people that use anon touch screen pc more satisfied with Windows 8.

    I read people on here saying people are haters of Windows 8, but those so called haters of Windows 8 reflect on reality off the frustration that most consumers will feel the first time they try to use Windows 8. I think what some of you are missing is the avg consumer that aren't tech savvy doesn't like a lot of change presented to them at once, because it took them a while to understand the Windows that they are using now and making a big change to that will generate almost instant frustration and this is where I feel MS is at a big disconnect with Windows 8 and the avg consumer who are vastly makeup the computer market and when you impose something that seems radical to them and what they have been soo used to for years, it's going to have a big negative effect on that product.
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Now that I think about it, I don't even use my Start Button. Everything I need, I have tucked away in quick launch. Very rarely do I find myself looking at my Start Button, unless I need the Control Panel.
    Reply