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What We’ve Just Learned
• An app’s relationship to the Windows Store is very closely related to your business as a
developer, because it supports a range of options from free apps, ad-supported apps,
limited-time trials, paid apps, and in-app purchases (using a custom commerce engine for the
latter if desired).
• Side loading of app packages is supported for developers (on a machine with a developer
license) and for enterprises. Otherwise all apps come from the Windows Store.
• The Windows Store APIs provide for managing app licenses, licenses for in-app purchases, and
receipts. During development, the app uses a simulator object where data is obtained from a
local XML file instead of the live Store, which allows for testing different types of transactions
and license conditions.
• Accessibility features are a concern for the majority of users, even those without disabilities who
find those features useful at different times. Apps support accessibility through ARIA attributes
(for screen readers), implementing keyboard interaction, resolution scaling, and responding to
high contrast modes.
• Globalization is the process of removing language and cultural assumptions from an app, using
globalization APIs to properly handle user language, varying, calendars, formatting of numbers,
dates, times, and currencies, sort orders, how strings are combined, varying text input methods,
and which web services are used from which regions.
• To prepare for localization, an app needs to be scrubbed for text and image content that will be
subject to translation, separating strings into resources files and inserting references in their
place, and then structuring those resources in folders and files that employ resource qualifiers.
• For efficient localization, the Multilingual App Toolkit for Visual Studio generates and translates
an app’s default resources into any number of other languages, using the file formats employed
by professional translators who can verify the results. It also produces a Pseudo Language
translation for localization testing.
• Getting an app in the store starts with testing the app both manually and through the Windows
App Certification Kit and being prepared for possible rejection during the onboarding process.
• App updates can be submitted to the Store at a later time, with improvements based on
feedback and telemetry, and the updated code needs to be ready to migrate state.
• Being in the Windows Store does not reduce the need for marketing; getting found will become
increasingly difficult as more apps appear in the Store. Cross-linking your app and website can
thus very much help discoverability.
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