It’s been a few years since the release of Windows 8, but teaching users how to use the edgy swipe is still difficult.
When I was first designing it, I added the search box to the top right because context-sensitive search charm is perhaps the most difficult to grasp for new users. This works really well, because a text box with a magnifying glass button next to it has good affordance.
However, I was still getting questions on how to change settings in the app, such as video quality.
So – I’m giving up. Instead of trying to explain things to users unfamiliar with edge swipes, I’ll be adding a “Gear” icon and “More” icon to Windows version of my Giant Bomb app:
Here is how you invoke a Settings pane (MSDN):
Windows.UI.ApplicationSettings.SettingsPane.show()
Here is how you open the nav bar (MSDN).
// For WinJS.UI.NavBar element with id="global_navbar"
document.getElementById("global_navbar").winControl.show();
App bar is practically the same as nav bar (MSDN).
I noticed that this also helps with Windows 10 because edge swipes are gone.
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