Almost two years ago, we set out on a path towards building a flavor of Blend that allowed you to seamlessly craft HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into Metro style applications. We are thrilled to announce that the final, released version of Blend is available for you to try out. As in previous releases, there is no more need to download Blend separately. It is now part of every VS download that targets any of the supported platforms. You can learn more from our launch blog post.

Download Visual Studio 2012 with Blend and Windows 8.  MSDN Subscriber Downloads has several versions available, and there are free downloads available for non-subscribers.

Getting Blend installed and running is only one part of it. Using Blend in conjunction with Visual Studio to build great Windows applications is the other part, and that is where this post comes in. In this post, you will get an overview of Blend and the great features it provides for allowing you to build great Windows applications.

Hello World

What better place to start than with the classic hello world example. Learn the basics of the Blend UI and how to start working with the content creation and styling features you have available:

Building a Windows Application

Let’s go a bit further now and look at how to work with controls, data, templates, layout, and more – all of which will play a crucial role as you build your own Windows applications.

Designing for Devices

Because your applications will be running on devices other than just a laptop or a desktop, let’s see how Blend can be used to help you design for multiple orientations, screen sizes, and view states:

Further Reading

Hopefully the videos helped get you excited about using Blend and Visual Studio to design and develop great Windows applications. To help you on your journey, be sure to check out the following links as well:

1. UX Guidelines for Windows 8 app Development
2. Guidance and Best Practices for building your Windows 8 UI
3. Browse and Download HTML/CSS/JavaScript Samples
4. Give and receive help on the forums

As always, we are looking forward to hearing from you. Please let us know what you think by commenting below or posting in our forums.

Cheers,

Kirupa Chinnathambi, Program Manager