Windows 8 Portrait and Landscape Options

dynamic, Landscape, Portrait, Tablets - By admin on Friday, October 21, 2011 - 12:22

To emphasize the fact that Windows 8 is a complete re-imagining of Windows that will run equally well on tablets, phones and desktops, Microsoft has just released details of how Windows 8 can run in both portrait and landscape mode.

Most demonstrations over the past few months have been in landscape mode on wide-screens. This was to allow more people to see what was going on. This led many to believe, falsely, that Microsoft was only paying lip-service to the idea of functioning on many different devices.

Not so. The developers of Windows 8 have, in fact, spent hours studying how people use tablet devices to develop a seamless way for their programs to run in both landscape and portrait format.

How People Use Tablets

During their hours of research Microsoft discovered that how people hold their tablets depends upon the app they are using and the content on the screen. Most people watch video in landscape and read articles in portrait. Plus Microsoft noticed that most people prefer to hold the device in both hands and use their thumbs to switch apps or select items.

Windows 8 Supports Tablet Usage as You Choose to Use it

Bearing this in mind, Microsoft designed Windows 8 to run ergonomically in both landscape and portrait mode. They designed an ergonomic thumbs keyboard to allow easier typing than with a qwerty keyboard and they've made it easy to access 'charms' - icons to other functions, with your thumbs whatever mode you are in.

Anti Gravity Switch

This sounds very Science-Fiction doesn't it? Basically, you as the user can decide whether your tablet should react to gravity to show which way is up, or whether you control the layout of your screen. This could be handy when passing the tablet between people.

Plus they've worked out a way to make the rotation between landscape and portrait as seamless and less jerky as they can, without it being so fast it makes you dizzy.

So all in all, it looks like Microsoft has got it covered, whichever way you choose to view Windows 8.

To view the screen rotation in action, click here:

http://video.ch9.ms/ch9/bc32/8cfebb5a-d737-4981-a766-9f72013abc32/Optimizinglandscapeandportrait_high_ch9.mp4