Windows 7 Engineering Guidance for Slate pcs Microsoft Corporation

Windows 7 Engineering Guidance for Slate PCs
Microsoft Corporation
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Windows 7 Engineering Guidance for Slate PCs
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Fundamentals and recommendations for touch experiences on Windows 7
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© 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Aero, Device Stage, Direct3D, DirectX, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, ReadyBoost, Surface, Windows, Windows Live, Windows Media, and Windows Vista are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
January 21, 2014
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Abstract
This paper describes the touch investments in Windows® 7 and provides guidance for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that want to take full advantage of Windows on slate PCs.
This information applies to the Windows 7 operating system.
References and resources discussed here are listed at the end of this paper.
The current version of this paper is maintained on the web at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg487456.aspx
Document History
Date
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Change
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January 21, 2014
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Branding changes.
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March 15, 2011
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Added revisions for Internet Explorer 9
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August 23, 2010
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Minor revisions to correct hyperlinks
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June 1, 2010
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First publication
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Contents
Introduction 3
Touch investments in Windows 7, Windows Live, and Internet Explorer 9 4
Internet Explorer 9 Overview 6
Site-Centric Design 6
Pinned Sites 7
New Tab Page 7
Trusted and Efficient Browsing with Internet Explorer 9 8
Add-on Performance Advisor 8
Hardware Accelerated Browsing 13
Optimizing the User Experience 13
Fundamentals 16
Hardware Requirements 16
Design Principles 16
Hardware Recommendations 16
Human Factors and Ergonomics 16
Digitizer Logo Requirements 17
Digitizer Implementation Guidance 17
Hardware Design Recommendations 18
System Architecture Recommendations 19
Touch Application Design Recommendations 20
Touch Optimization Principles 20
Increase Confidence and Efficiency 20
Direct Manipulation 21
Gestures 21
Windows 7 Design Principles 21
Time matters: Build for People on the Go 24
Value the Full Lifecycle of the Experience 25
System Performance Guidance 25
Additional Logo Considerations 26
Call to Action 26
Resources 26
Introduction
Windows® 7 introduced Windows Touch, which makes PCs more intuitive, natural, and fun. By supporting multitouch technology, Windows 7 opened up a world of possibilities for hardware and software developers. The PC ecosystem has rapidly adopted multitouch and has provided many touch implementations for notebooks, all-in-one devices, touch-enabled monitors, and now slate PCs.
Touch enhancements make Windows 7 a compelling operating system for slate PCs. Windows 7, Windows Live™, and Windows Internet Explorer® 9 features are designed to work for touch experiences. Beyond native platform support for multitouch applications, the new taskbar in Windows 7 simplifies launching and switching between programs, and touch gestures enhance overall user experience and web browsing.
Slate PCs are primarily recommended for consumption of information, services, and content available on the Internet. Windows 7 supports core usage scenarios for slate PCs including web browsing, communication, social networking, media consumption (including music, video, and TV), casual gaming, location-based services, and reading. Success in delivering these scenarios requires a product that meets customer expectations for ease of use, performance, battery life, weight, screen size, resolution, security, and reliability. The combination of Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows Live, and innovative PC designs at competitive price points delivers the best experience for customers.
This document provides guidance for OEMs that want to take full advantage of Windows on slate PCs, by addressing the following topics:
Touch Investments. Windows 7, Windows Live, Internet Explorer 9
Fundamentals. Hardware and Windows Logo Program requirements
Design Principles. Recommendations on hardware and application design
Windows assets. Windows Live, Touch Pack for Windows 7, Windows Media® Center
Touch investments in Windows 7, Windows Live, and Internet Explorer 9
When a compatible digitizer is available to the Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions, the operating system detects the digitizer and automatically adjusts its settings to provide a better touch experience for the user. Table 1 summarizes the extensive touch capabilities in Windows 7.
Table 1: Touch Capabilities in Windows 7
Feature
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Touch Capability
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Description
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Platform
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Tap/Double-tap
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Tap/double-tap to select and open.
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Platform
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Panning/Scrolling
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Panning/scrolling with inertia in applications with scroll bars (one or two finger panning).
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Platform
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Zoom
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Zoom in any application that supports zoom, by using CTRL + scroll wheel.
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Platform
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Right-click
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Press and tap and press and hold to right-click an item.
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Platform
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High DPI
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Change to high DPI (120 pixels per inch) to display user interface elements that are easier to see and touch accurately. This is configurable by OEMs and end-users.
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Platform
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Flicks
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Flick to move forward or backward (navigational flicks); also customizable for other uses (for example, copy, paste, and undo).
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Taskbar
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Drag
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Drag up on taskbar icons to open jump lists; increased spacing between lines for touch.
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Taskbar
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Press and drag
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Press and drag on preview thumbnails to peek into the windows (same as hovering over thumbnails with the mouse pointer).
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Taskbar
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Larger button
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The Show Desktop button is larger on touch-enabled PCs.
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Taskbar
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Press and hold
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Press and hold on the Show Desktop button topPeek at the desktop (same as hovering with the mouse pointer).
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Touch keyboard (Tablet PC Input Panel)
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Text prediction and multitouch input
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Resizable on-screen keyboard that supports text prediction and multitouch input.
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Touch keyboard (Tablet PC Input Panel)
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Discoverable
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The Touch keyboard sits on the left side of the screen; tap or drag out over the icon to reveal the keyboard. An in-place launch target also appears next to the text box when you set the focus with touch.
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Window Management
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Aero® Snap
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Easier with touch; no need to go all the way to the edge of the window to activate.
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Window Management
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Aero Shake
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Touch the window's title bar and shake the window to minimize all other open windows behind it.
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Window Management
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Window-boundary feedback
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Content of window bounces when you reach the end of the scrollable page while panning.
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Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Live Photo Gallery
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Gesture support
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Zoom, rotate, and pan. Photo Gallery editor and date view have high-quality touch experiences, such as rotate animations.
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Windows Explorer
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Gesture support
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Gesture support in preview pane, and zoom through views and thumbnails.
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Calculator
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Large buttons
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Touch-friendly button size.
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Snipping Tool
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Snipping
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Use fingertips to select area to snip.
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Magnifier
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Navigation
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Touch-enabled navigation controls for all modes.
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Paint
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Touch-friendly Ribbon user interface (UI)
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Ribbon UI includes more touch-friendly control and buttons sizes.
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Paint
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Touch-friendly color picker
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Touch-friendly color picker enables easier color selection.
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Paint
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Multitouch
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Multitouch brush support enables all brushes support multitouch painting.
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Windows Internet Explorer 9
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Two-finger tap to magnify
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It is difficult to tap a link on a webpage accurately, especially if the link is surrounded by many other links. You can use two fingertips to tap anywhere on the page to instantly zoom in on that spot. Next, tap the link with one fingertip, which is easier when the link is magnified. When the new webpage opens, it automatically displays in normal size.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Choose how much to zoom
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To increase the zoom level, place two fingertips on the screen and move them apart. The page appears increasingly larger as you separate your fingers. To shrink the page, place two fingertips apart on the screen and pinch them together.
Internet Explorer 9 changes page layout to increase/decrease zoom in 1% increments/decrements.
With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft has it made easier for users to get to the default zoom level through the pinch gesture. The pinch gesture will limit pinch zoom out to 100% (75% in portrait mode) to easily return to a natural zoom level with a quick single gesture.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Large hit targets
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It is difficult to precisely tap a small buttons on the frame with your fingertip Internet Explorer 9 features large hit target for common navigation actions such as closing a tab, or navigating back and forward.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Touch-friendly navigation
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New tab page provides large targets to navigate to your frequent sites quickly.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Flick forward or back
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Navigate back: Place fingertip on the page and flick it to the right, as if flipping backward through the pages of a book.
Navigate forward: Flick the page to the left, as if you are brushing it off the left side of your screen.
When you flick forward or back, Internet Explorer momentarily shows a preview of the page that is about to open before the page opens to the full-sized view.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Touch and tap
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Bring up the context menu (an equivalent of right mouse click) with the touch and tap gesture by holding one finger down while tapping screen with the other finger.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Space between links and items
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Internet Explorer detects when the user uses a fingertip instead of a track pad or mouse. If you slide your finger down on the address bar to open your favorites and history list, Internet Explorer widens the spacing between the links.
If you slide up your finger on the pinned icon in the Windows taskbar, the jump list items will open with wider spacing. Wider spacing makes it easier to tap the desired link.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Open a link in a new tab
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To open a link in a background tab, you can place your finger on a link, drag it off its “home” spot, and release it.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Panning
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You can place one fingertip on a long webpage and flick to scroll up or down quickly; or keep your fingertip on the screen and slowly push the page up or down to move the page slowly.
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Internet Explorer 9
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Panning
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If a webpage is too wide to fit in your browser window, you can place two fingertips on a webpage, hold them there, and drag the page right or left.
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Windows Media Center
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Panning
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Direct panning in Start menu and galleries (Pictures, Movies, Music, and more).
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Windows Media Center
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Touch seek-bar
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Large control with thumbnail peek into the video that is playing.
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Windows Media Center
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Larger controls
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Touch-sensitive controls with larger targets for touch.
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Windows Media Player
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Scrolling
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Smooth scrolling through albums, artists, and song lists.
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Windows Media Player
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Drag-and-drop
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Drag-and-drop to create playlists.
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Windows Media Player
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Larger touch targets
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Larger touch targets for shuttle controls (volume slider, stop, play) make them easier to interact with using touch.
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XPS Viewer
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Smooth gestures
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Smooth zoom response to pinch and stretch gestures.
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XPS Viewer
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Two-Finger Tap
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Smart zoom, which enlarges text because of a two-finger tap.
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XPS Viewer
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Thumbnail view
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Thumbnail view is touch interface enabled, with zoom support.
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Windows Games
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Increased responsiveness
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Increased responsiveness for moving cards and tiles with touch.
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Windows Games
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Increased spacing
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Increased spacing of cards.
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| Internet Explorer 9 Overview
Internet Explorer 9 features numerous improvements that make it a natural fit for slate PCs.
Site-Centric Design
In Internet Explorer 9, the simplified user interface and site-centric user experience puts the focus on the content of each website. By default, only the controls essential for browsing are in the browser frame. This means less screen real estate is taken up by the browser, and this lets people browse and experience more of what their sites have to offer.
As shown in the Table 1, Internet Explorer 9 provides many touch gestures that make common browsing scenarios easy.
Note to OEMs
OEMs can get more information about Internet Explorer 9 and touch support in the videos from the Internet Explorer product page: http://windows.microsoft.com/ie9.
To download and use the Internet Explorer 9 multitouch tutorial video, please contact your Microsoft OEM account manager.
Pinned Sites
With Pinned Sites, favorite websites can be accessed directly from the Windows taskbar for immediate access to the site, just like any other application. Users spend about half their time in the browser and the other half in Windows applications. The taskbar can be personalized so that users’ favorite experiences are available in a convenient location.
Users can pin sites to the taskbar by dragging the tab or the icon to the left of the web address from the One Box to the taskbar.
Users can also group multiple homepages in a single pinned site to easily group tasks. With Pinned Sites, users can easily find and launch sites that they visit most often—just like applications on the PC. When a pinned site is opened from the taskbar, the browser frame and navigational controls integrate the site’s icon and primary color emphasizing the site and providing an even more site-focused experience.
Note to OEMs
OEMs should be aware that when a website is opened in the pinned mode, the following installed add-ons will not be loaded:
Toolbars
Browser Helper Objects
Explorer Bars
OEMs should also be aware that only users can pin websites to the Windows taskbar.
New Tab Page
When the user opens a new tab, his or her intent is to navigate. The new tab page displays tiles for the sites that the user visits most frequently. This helps the user to go these sites quickly and without hesitation. Each site is represented by a tile with a large shortcut icon and a title which make it very easy opening with touch.
Figure 1: Sample New Tab Page
Note to OEMs
OEMs should be aware that the most popular sites page (as shown in Figure 1) is created automatically by the browser, and is based on the user’s browsing history. OEMs cannot prepopulate this page because it is designed to be a personal experience based on the user’s browsing patterns.
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