With the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview this week, it seems this might be the right time to bring forth some new improvements in the Windows 8 app development scenario. According to a recent post by Microsoft’s Jake Sabulsky on the new app developers blog, Microsoft has brought about some new developments in the manner in which Metro style apps for Windows 8 will be developed. Hence, for those who happen to be interested in developing  Metro apps for the Windows 8 operating system need to take a look at this post.

The blog post mentions several new additions for making Windows 8 apps. Amidst request from the developers who told Microsoft after the release of the Developer Preview that they wanted to render their apps quickly in DirectX while also making use of the Metro user interface. Sabulsky states that Microsoft has now added three new XAML types for supporting a large range of DirectX features. He states:

With the Consumer Preview, you can now smoothly integrate XAML and DirectX 11 in the same Metro style app to create a fast and fluid experience. For example, you can now create a DirectX game and use XAML to process input, create graphics for heads-up displays and menus, or bind to your app’s data model.

The blog post covers a number of other topics such as adding more improvements for Blend to make HTML apps for Windows 8 and adding support for a PlayReady Metro API for DRM features in apps. There’s also added support for debugging apps in the Consumer Preview version, including some new features for the Simulator such as adding 1024×768 resolution support, also in case of  Windows Library for JavaScript (WinJS),where (among many improvements) Microsoft has simplified the navigation model.Inclusion of the the Windows 8 Animation Library, which is designed to take full advantage of independent animations to make it easier than ever to create a fast and fluid Metro style design.

Image Credits:Microsoft