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Windows 8 is designed to scale to all possible screen sizes and that includes extremely high pixel density displays such as the Retina Display standard used by Apple.

Windows 8 To Bring High Resolution Screen Devices To The PC Market

If there’s one thing that is inspiring a lot of vendors right now, it is a certain high resolution display toting device that has a pixel density (PPI or Pixels Per Inch) that matches the limit of the human eye. This has triggered a chain reaction where manufacturers are trying to come up with displays that not only have higher resolutions but go beyond the boring 72-96PPI range and venture in to densities that range from over 100 to nearly 300 PPI.

As a result, Windows 8 would have to scale not only in terms of resolution but also in terms of pixel density. So on the same 10inch screen, it might have to fit in many times more pixels than the basic 96 PPI. Microsoft takes to their Building Windows 8 blog in order to explain how they have achieved this feat and how they intend to make sure that they are competitive with the iPad’s (and the iPhone’s) retina display.

High Pixel Density Along With High Resolution Is Not New In Windows

Windows, like any other modern OS, has always been capable of display more pixels per inch at a given resolution. Since most displays have been using about 96PPI, higher resolutions have not usually been a problem because the screen size would increase with the resolution (because the pixel density is constant) and the elements on screen would remain perfectly readable.

But then came the situation where the same screen size now has higher resolution because of great pixel density. So a 20pixel onscreen element that was perfectly legible on a 96ppi screen, would become very difficult to decipher on a 200ppi screen. Thankfully, Windows has had a way of countering this by increasing the pixel density of the whole OS so that you don’t have to squint to do your regular work.

But it has had its problems because some applications would not draw right with a new pixel density. And some elements or applications would simply become too big and go off screen or behind the taskbar. Result — most users would accept that at 96ppi, things would be slightly small but still usable if you don’t scale them. And since you are using a mouse, your system it still quite usable.

Switch over to touch and this escalates from a minor annoyance to a huge problem. Everything has to be nice and well defined and of a goodly size to be usable. This is a problem that touch device users frequently face on websites and it is not going to go away because higher pixel density is not becoming mainstream.

Metro To Scale Smoothly On High Pixel Density And Resolution Minus Hiccups

So when it came to Windows 8, Microsoft had to find a solution to this and that is what they have done on the Metro side of Windows 8. Microsoft is already anticipating displays that match Apple’s Retina Display. In their illustration of the common screen sizes, there’s a 10.1” screen that has a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, making the density around 291ppi. The same resolution on a 11.6” device would have 253ppi.

As you can already see, these densities are a far cry from the 72-96ppi that we are used to. On common laptop screens, the densities will remain higher than the current average at around 125-157ppi.

Since Metro was designed from ground up to be extremely scalable, designing apps that scale across all screens is much easier. One of the ways this has been done is by limiting the minimum size to 1024×768 and a widescreen minimum of 1366×768. Snapped view will always be exactly 320 pixels wide. And the apps have resizing limitations as well. They will always maintain an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 4:3 depending on the screen. With all these rules in place, the number of possible situations where an app will have to adapt becomes manageable and quite predictable.

Scaling has also been limited to either 140% or 180%, which seems random at first but this will allow 1920×1080 and 2560×1440 screens to display content that are apparently the same size as 1366×768 but much sharper.

Apple Retina Display Matching Screens To Be Common On Windows 8, Says Microsoft

Microsoft mentioned that resolutions of 1920×1080 and 2560×1440 on 10inch and 11inch screens will be quite common on Windows 8 tablets, hinting at the fact that they will take on the newest iPad head on; at least as far as the display is concerned. Windows 8 will be intelligent enough to scale automatically to fit the screen.

The apps on Windows 8 Metro work on a system that automatically scales them to fit the screen. Developers will be required build scaling support right in and some of the elements will be automatically scaled by the system.

If you want to get back the classic start menu in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

IMPORTANT: THIS TUTORIAL IS INTENDED FOR WINDOWS 8 DEVELOPER PREVIEW

Microsoft introduces Metro User Interface in Windows 8. The main difference between Metro UI and its
Predecessor is that, it doesn’t have the start menu like before. Rather it brings a new type of start menu with an exciting new look. But still many users prefer the old start menu, where everything can be done in one place, from searching to opening an application. If you also want to use that old start menu in Windows 8, then follow the instructions carefully.

1. Switch to Desktop Mode by pressing Windows + M simultaneously.

2. Press Windows + R to open the Run window. Now type regedit and then press Enter.

3. Now navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer.

4. Right click onRPEnabled and select Modify.

By default this value will be 1. Set this value to 0 to get back the old start menu like in Windows 7.
... Read more »

If you are new to customizing Windows, read our tutorial how to install icons in Microsoft’s latest iteration Windows 8

Sometimes you may want to add new icons created by yourself or found elsewhere in existing windows library.In such a situation this tutorial is really going to be helpful to you. You can easily create new customized .ico files and use them as your custom icons. process.
Just follow these steps properly to install custom icons in Windows 8.

A. Get new icons

You can create your own icons using various drawing editor like paint or Adobe Photoshop etc.
There are also some free sites to create icons online like this.
Create an icon and save it as ".ico”. For example I have created this one:- 

If you have not already created your own icon you can download icons from this site or from this site.
Save this to your desktop.

B. Use the new icon

Say you want to change the windows explorer icon. Follow these simple steps.

1. Go to Metro UI screen & right click on the "Windows Explorer” icon. As soon as you click you will see "Advanced” option in the bottom right corner.

2. Click on "Advanced” icon & select "Open file location”.

3. After the window has opened right clock on "windows explorer” & click on "Properties”.

4. In the properties window go to "Shortcut” tab. Press "Change ... Read more »

This tutorial will help you to learn how to log off in Windows 8. This can also be used to shutdown, restart or switch user accounts

Your computer can have multiple user account. You may need to leave the computer for other’s use or you may want to Log off your computer from an user account and log in to another account for any testing purpose. In that case follow the instructions below.

Steps to Log Off Windows 8 via Start Screens

1. First switch to Metro user interface by presing Windows button.

2. See the top right corner of Metro user Interface . You will see your User name is written there.

3. Now click on the User Account icon and the following window will appear.

Now click on Log Off to log off the machine.

If you want to install Windows 8 on a new partition, read this guide that explains how to access the "advanced” installation options

Do you want to give Windows 8 a try? But not sure to use Windows 8 as your Primary Operating System. Don’t worry, you can easily dual boot Windows 8 with your existing operating system. You just need a free Primary partition on your hard disk to install Windows 8. First of all you need to download 32 bit or 64 bit .iso file of Windows 8. Then Burn it to a DVD carefully.

Now, follow these steps carefully to install Windows 8 on a new partition.

1. Insert the DVD of Windows 8 and reboot the machine. It will automatically start to load the Windows files from your bootable DVD. If it does not detect the bootable Windows 8 installation DVD then make sure you have changed the boot option in the BIOS menu so that your optical drive is recognized before your active primary hard drive.

2. Set language preferences and then install Windows 8.

3. When you are opted for Custom or Installation. Click on Custom(Advanced) .

4. Then select the drive except the current Windows directory and install Windows 8.
When the installation is finished and machine is rebooted, then you will see two option for booting Windows Developer Preview and the previous one.

If you want to know how to navigate Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard, this guide will help you out a bit.

Metro interface of Windows 8 seems to be perfect for touch input but what about mouse control?

No doubt, navigation on non-touch devices (mouse or keyboard input) can be improved further in windows 8. Features like De-emphasizing scrollbars, Multi-gesture swiping etc. are still missing in Windows 8 mouse control. While touch input Windows 8 devices support all these things.

Here you can see some popular navigation operations performed using mouse.

Lock screen

Click and hold the bottom screen and drag it up to escape from lock screen. You can also double click on anywhere on the screen to do the same thing.

Switch to Metro UI

Click on the Start Menu icon to swtich to metro UI form desktop mode.

Open a Tile

Left click on the tile to open it.

Tile Property

Right Click on the tile to see the options available for that tile.

Move Tile

Click on the tile and hold it .Then drag that tile to the desired position.

Navigate Tiles

Scroll down to see the tiles of the right and scroll upward to see tiles of the left. Or you can simply click on the rightward arrow on the bottom of the screen or leftwared arrow to navigate the tiles in Metro UI.

Switch Applications

Take the cursor to the left of the screen and hold that for a second and you will see a very small window of the previous application you were in. Then Left click to opent that application