Book Image

Developing Windows Store Apps with HTML5 and JavaScript

By : Rami Sarieddine
Book Image

Developing Windows Store Apps with HTML5 and JavaScript

By: Rami Sarieddine

Overview of this book

Windows 8 has already been launched and been installed on millions of devices while the store is getting populated with apps, and soon enough everyone will want a Windows Store app. So start now and learn how to develop apps for Windows 8 using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript and you will be killing two birds with one stone by getting introduced to important features in HTML5 and CSS3 at the same time. You will gain the advantage of utilizing your web development skills to transform your website into an app or the other way round. Developing Windows Store Apps with HTML5 and JavaScript is a practical, hands-on guide that covers the basic and important features of a Windows Store App along with code examples which will show you how to develop these features, all the while learning some of the new features in HTML5 and CSS3 which you can utilize in other areas of development. This book starts with the new features in HTML5 and CSS3 that are incorporated with Windows 8 development, and then moves on to creating a blank Windows Store app and add features to it as we move through the chapters till we package the app and make it ready for publishing. Finally, we will have a look at how similar it is to develop the same app with XAML. You will also learn how to add and use new controls dedicated for Windows 8 and then see how to fetch data for the app and bind it to the controls. We will also take a look at making the app adapt to change in screen sizes and rotation as well as how to make the app live with tiles and allow users to sign in using their email accounts. Also you will learn how to add an app bar, and lastly you learn how to finalize the app and publish it. If you want to leverage your web development skills and utilize it in developing for Windows 8, then you came to the right place. Developing Windows Store Apps with HTML5 and JavaScript is packed with examples and screenshots which will make it easy for you to implement all the things you learned throughout the book.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Developing Windows Store Apps with HTML5 and JavaScript
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Creating fluid layouts with Grid and Flexbox


When it comes to implementing the design principles set by Microsoft to build attractive, intuitive, and interactive Windows 8 apps, layout is very important. It is common to define a page layout using HTML structural elements such as <div> and <table>, and the positioning style rules.

But now, there is a more flexible way to do it with the CSS3 advanced layout features, namely Grid layout and Flexbox (Flexible box) layout. These layout systems allow you to easily implement an adaptive and fluid layout.

The Grid layout

It offers a very simple way to create fluid and adaptable layouts for a Windows 8 app. It is ideal for implementing a full screen UI since the grid can automatically expand to fill in all the space that is available. The Grid layout allows you to align and position its child elements as columns and rows, entirely using CSS, and is independent of their order in the HTML code. It enables more fluidity in layouts than what...