New screenshots and information have appeared on the web today revealing the many customization features that Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows 8 will include. Features such as swirl customization, charm bar and more!
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The new screenshots and information come from TechRadar, who have today revealed many customization options for Windows 8. Currently, the Windows Developer Preview is limited to customization, the Windows 8 beta is out to change that.
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Windows 8 will not allow you to apply a picture to the start screen, since the image will most likely not stretch and scale to the start screen, so instead Microsoft have allowed you to customize other elements of the start screen, such as different styles of “swirls” and the overall colour of the start screen.
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Customization doesn’t stop there, the operating system also allows you to change certain settings on the charm bar, you can choose whether to make it transparent, or have it opaque.
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You can also zoom into the metro start screen with semantic zoom, which allows you to check out your metro apps in bigger detail.
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The Windows Developer Preview cannot close apps from the Metro unless you use the Task Manager, Microsoft have been working to change that, and now you can kill them by swiping down from the top of your screen.
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Microsoft have also made many enhancements to the Metro UI and its support for mouse and keyboard, you can now use the Metro interface with more ease if you use such devices. For example, you can push your cursor to the edge of the screen to move along your selection of apps, the arrow keys can also be used to achieve the same result.
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Microsoft have been hard at work on Windows 8, this week the OS goes into Beta Escrow, where internal testers “vote on” the selected build for the publuc preview.
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