These new menus offer us completely new ways of working that are meant to create a unified process whether you’re on a PC, touch screen, tablet or smartphones. However, it is not always so easy to understand how to perform a certain step on all these different platforms.
Here is a guide that shows how to perform the most common gestures in Windows 8 with a mouse, keyboard or touch screen.
Conjure up the Hotkey Bar
Touch screen: Swipe your finger from the right edge of the screen to the left to bring up the charms bar that lets you search, share content, and change app settings.
Keyboard: Press Windows key + C
Mouse: Move the mouse cursor to the upper right corner of the screen and the hotkey bar will appear.
Quickly switch between apps
Touch screen: Swipe your finger from the left edge of the screen to the right to see all the apps you ran recently. To see all the apps that are active, drag your finger from the left edge up a little bit and then back again.
Keyboard: Press Windows key + Tab to switch between active apps.
Mouse: Move the mouse cursor to the center of the left edge of the screen to display the recently used apps. To see active apps, you then move the mouse cursor up to the upper left corner or the lower left corner.
Use two apps at the same time
Touch screen: It is possible to place two apps next to each other in the new interface in Windows 8 and Windows RT. All you have to do is click on the top bar of an app and then drag it to the left or right edge of the screen. Then repeat with another app.
Keyboard: To pin an app to the right side of the screen, press the Windows key + . (point). To pin an app to the left side, press Windows key + shift + . (point).
Mouse: To pin an app to one of the sides, grab the app and drag it to the center of the screen, either left or right. You can also right-click the app and choose to pin it to either page.
Quit apps quickly
Touch screen: You can quickly close apps by swiping your finger down from the top to the bottom of the screen when the app is active.
Keyboard: The classic key combination Alt + F4 still works.
Mouse: Move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen, when the cursor changes shape to a hand, you can drag the app down to close it.
Quick access to settings
Touch screen: To quickly access an app’s settings, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
Keyboard: Press Windows key + Z
Mouse: Right-click anywhere on the app and select options.
Semantic Zoom
Touch screen: To zoom out so you can see more of the home screen, pinch your fingers on the home screen. A smart way if you need to move and organize start fields (tiles) on the start screen.
Mouse: Hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard and then use the scroll key on the mouse to zoom in or out on the home screen.