It's just the Resolution is different, really. The Start text stays if the Resolution step is small, as well as on the WDP this text doesnt scale with every single Resolution but kinda sticks to a certain point. No Trick, just resolution difference.
I guess DPI. Higher DPI = bigger text (now the bigger text on smaller high-res screen can be made the same size as the text on a normal dpi big screen, and the tiles remain. And the tiles on the normal dpi 1 will look bigger than the 1 on the higher DPI. EDIT: But yeah, like shenj said, they may have a max size to display Start. I always use set max n min for scaling etc in my design work. eg viewbox with max-width and max-height
Sorry, I think we all talk about different things here The system resolution may trigger larger tiles. Something like: If resolution is higher 1280 or higher, then tiles = 150x150 pixel. Else = 120x120 pixel. The screenshots are not scaled (1 pixel = 1 pixel in the images). So the DPI setting is not relevant. As you can see the text "Internet Explorer" has the same size and resolution, maybe something about 9px high but the tiles are different sizes. The question is, if we can choose what sizes those tiles have? It would be great to have a large monitor with high resolution but have small tiles.
Yes but the different screenshots are displayed 100%, not scaled up or down. Do we have developers here who can tell if you have to create two sizes of tiles for your app?
I don't think you have to create 2 sizes of tiles. Anyway svg vectors and fonts will scale without a problem (Raster Images will be scaled down bicubically (assuming the bigger tile is the standard)).
OK. For those who are interested in tiles sizes: I have looked closer to the screenshots. PCbeta's screens are taken in 1024x768 resolution (minimum for Windows 8) I guess they were taken from a virtual machine. Canouna's screens where taken in 1366x768 resolution (minimum for snapping apps to the side). In the smaller resolution, the tiles are 120x120 pixel, in the higher resolution they switch to the default size of 150x150 pixel. Fonts and desktop icons in tiles have always the same size. It would be great if someone knows how to enable the smaller tiles on higher resolution. Would make a lot of pro-users very happy, becasue many complained about the huge tiles
Shenj played around a lot with the registry, he knew of some tweaks to mess with the number of tiles and (sizes?)
Microsoft will ask devs to make 150x150 n scale it down to 120x120 when needed. I don't think they will allow people to change tile sizes (mebbe give an option for more rows) imo. They would want a uniform look across screens on the same resolution. But anyway we are bound to figure out how to set em to 120x120 via some reg-tweak or something. (given it is a setting and not hardcoded like I do with some of my apps (setting a max and min for a viewbox in xaml or a conditional fn for size))
My big thing is that the metro UI is pointless unless there are apps to use in it.. I think MS will wait until the store is available to let windows 8 CP out
Yeah, "Consumer" Preview doesn't make sense without the store. And also @Canouna What about a xp-type intro? Is it there in the consumer preview? If consumers who have not been following anything metro-related, (no b8, no mdl, no winunleaked, no wp mango etc) get metro UI on 1st logon without any tutorial or intro, they'd be :O
They should do but I lost all hope that they will change even the easiest things like the gradients for the Ribbon or classic menu bar. I remember how everyone was waiting for the mysterious "Aero Diamond" theme for Vista. They only added 5 or so new green icons to the RTM version. The same for Windows 7: I was sure they will change the 3D Start orb from Vista because it didn't fit with the new flat "SuperBar" in Windows 7. But no, they changed almost nothing since Win7 beta, only one single icon: for HomeGroup which is even extremely ugly if you ask me.
Ah first people complained and spammed about a leak for CP and no they complain about CP. You people will never be satisfied. Stick with W7 if you dont like Metro. Stop whining like a little bitch. Lot of people are not afraid to use something new. I get tired of these "Desktop rules" guys. First we had those XP guys with their "XP OWNS" and no we get W7 Fanboys. I dont know whats worse.