Application Builders

Windows App Studio (top) is a Web-based tool for building Windows Modern and Windows Phone applications, and Project Siena (bottom) is a Windows Modern application for building Windows Modern applications. Both tools eliminate the need for programming languages by using visual tools and simplified instructions to define application operation.

Windows App Studio guides a designer through four main steps to build and publish an application. The illustration shows the Content step, in which the designer defines up to six top-level pages that the application displays at runtime. Pages can display data from sources such as RSS feeds and Bing searches, data compiled into the application, or data accessed through a service provided by Windows App Studio (which allows changing the data using the tool after the application is distributed, so users don’t have to update the application). A preview of the Windows Phone version of the application, which is updated as the designer makes changes, is shown to the left, and a preview of the Windows version of the application can be seen by clicking the Windows Preview button (lower left).