When a Microsoft Surface unit is not being used, it displays an attract application. An attract application is designed to entice people to look at and touch the Microsoft Surface screen. The default attract application is Water, which shows water rippling over rocks. Users can play with the water, which responds to multiple touches by one or more users, with their hands, fingers, or objects to create ripples on the water.

You can customize Water by changing the cloud layer or the rocks in the background, so it might look different from the preceding illustration. You can also create your own attract application.

In all four corners of the screen, there are small semicircles with the Microsoft Surface logo that are called access points. The access points periodically glow to let users know that they are there.

Touch an access point on the attract application to open Launcher and start a Microsoft Surface session.

Launcher is the menu of applications that are installed on a Microsoft Surface unit. It appears as a horizontal band of colored light waves that pulsate and shimmer. Each application is represented by a preview when the application is selected or by an icon when the application is not selected.

Launcher is the main location of a Microsoft Surface experience because users move among Microsoft Surface applications by using Launcher. Launcher has a distinct top and bottom; that is, the Microsoft Surface screen is oriented to one of the long sides of the tabletop. Also, Launcher includes only two access points on the “bottom” corners of Launcher. If users want to close their session, they can touch the I'm done button in the center of the bottom part of the screen.

• If there is only one application:
  
  • Single-application mode displays a simple user experience where users do not have to start an application. The access points and the Launcher menu are disabled in this mode.
• If there are five or fewer applications:
  
  • Launcher pulsates but it does not move.
  • If a user touches an application's icon, the icon changes to a larger preview image that might show a movie or a slide show of the application in action. The name of the application appears above the preview image and a description of the application appears below the preview image.
  • To start the application, touch the preview image.
• If there are six or more applications:
  
  • There are more appvailable:
    • If there is only one application:
      
      • Single-application mode displays a simple user experience where users do not have to start an application. The access points and the Launcher menu are disabled in this mode.
    • If there are five or fewer applications:
      
      • Launcher pulsates but it does not move.
      • If a user touches an application's icon, the icon changes to a larger preview image that might show a movie or a slide show of the application in action. The name of the application appears above the preview image and a description of the application appears below the preview image.
      • To start the application, touch the prelications than can display in Launcher at the same time, so Launcher can move to the right or left. Use a finger to scroll Launcher in either direction and see all the available applications. A user can drag or flick Launcher by touching either of the bands that appear above and below the application icons.
      • If a user touches an application's icon, the icon changes to a larger preview image and moves to the center of Launcher. The preview image might show a movie or a slide show of the application in action. The name of the application appears above the preview image and a description of the application appears below the preview image.
      • To start the application, touch the large preview image in the center of Launcher.

     

    Using Applications

    When users open an application, the application occupies the entire Microsoft Surface screen and includes the following possibilities:

    • Even though one application occupies the entire screen, other applications and the Microsoft Surface software can display messages while users interact with an application. Messages display along one of the long sides of the screen.
    • An application can be two-sided (that is, with a top and bottom) or four-sided (think of a board game). In most cases, multiple people will use the application simultaneously from all sides.
    • A 360-degree application, such as the Photos application, might have text that faces in one direction. In such cases, users can typically move the object that contains the text and turn it in any direction. For example, the Music application includes a music player that faces one direction. However, users can rotate individual albums so that they can read the text from any side.
    • If a Microsoft Surface unit is configured for single-application mode, access points on the unit are disabled. The user can access only one application and cannot use the access points to back out of the application.
    • If a Microsoft Surface unit is not configured for single-application mode, all applications have access points in all four corners. When a user touches the screen, the Microsoft Surface unit highlights the access points and plays a sound. Touch an access point to open Launcher; the application is still running in the background. An application might also include a "close" or "exit" option. If it does not, the application continues to run until a user ends the session from Launcher or the session ends automatically because no contact is made.
    • Contact visualizations enable users to quickly and instinctively learn how to use the multitouch system by providing instant visual feedback when they touch the screen and perform gestures.
    • Objects in an application can have visual controls or indicators. For example, in Music, the back of an album has a circular arrow in the upper-right corner. Users can touch the arrow to turn the album back over and see the front. Another example is lists that have a scroll bar that users can use to move, or scroll, the list.
    • Some objects do not include obvious controls, but users can still move, resize, or flick them.
    • If a running application does not receive a contact on the screen for 2 minutes, the Microsoft Surface software displays a screen that offers the user two choices: return to the running application or close everything to start a new experience (session).
    • If a user does not respond to this screen within 60 seconds, Microsoft Surface automatically exits the session and returns to the attract application so that it is ready for the next group of people.

     

    Moving Among Applications

    Although users can use only one application at a time (because an application occupies the whole Microsoft Surface screen), multiple applications can run simultaneously. Users can move among applications by using Launcher.

    If you touch an access point from an application, Launcher reappears, and the running application becomes a preview image in Launcher. But instead of displaying the default preview image, the application's preview image displays the state of the application when a user touched the access point (that’s a visual clue that the application is running).

    Remember the following:

    • Touch the small icon of any running application in Launcher to redisplay the preview of the running application. Users can then touch the preview to reopen the application.
    • Touch an access point in Launcher to reopen the most recently used running application. Users must touch the application preview in Launcher to reopen another application that is running in the background or to open a new application.
    • When users reopen a running application, the application is in the same state as when a user last used it.
    • Some applications might include explicit "close" or "exit" functionality. But this functionality is not the same thing as touching an access point because when a user “leaves” an application by touching an access point, the application is still running in the background.

     

    Closing Applications and Sessions

    A session includes an entire user experience, when one user or a group of users starts at the attract application, moves to Launcher, opens and uses one or more applications, returns to Launcher, and then uses the I'm done button to return the Microsoft Surface unit to the attract application.

    The I'm done button clears the tabletop, ends the session, and closes all running applications. For example, if you use the Concierge application and find directions to a specific destination, the Microsoft Surface software removes that information when a session is closed. The same situation occurs if a user uses Photos and leaves photographs sized and arranged in a certain way on the Microsoft Surface unit.

    Microsoft Surface units can also automatically end a session because of a time-out.

     

    Orientation

    Launcher has a distinct top and bottom. If a user open an application that also has a distinct top and bottom, the application faces (is oriented to) the same end of the screen as Launcher.

    However, if users are using an application and they touch an access point on the top side of the application, Launcher displays oriented toward the top (that is, Launcher faces the long side of the tabletop that contains the access point that was touched).

    If there is a group of people using the Microsoft Surface unit at the same time, Launcher might go back and forth in its orientation. Regardless, a running application always appears in the direction that it faced when it was first opened.

     

    Time-Outs

    Applications and Launcher include time-outs to handle periods of inactivity. There are several reasons why Microsoft Surface might not receive a touch contact for a period of time. Users might be listening to a song or watching a video, or they might just walk away, perhaps to answer a telephone call.

    • If a running application does not receive a contact on the tabletop for 2 minutes, the Microsoft Surface software displays a screen that offers the user two choices: return to the running application or close everything to start a new experience (session).
    • If a user does not respond to this screen within 60 seconds, the Microsoft Surface software automatically closes the session and returns to the attract application so that it is ready for the next group of people.If Launcher is active and there are applications running in the background, and if the Microsoft Surface software does not receive a contact on the tabletop for 2 minutes, the screen offers the same choices as described in the previous item.
    • If Launcher is active but no application is running, and if the Microsoft Surface software does not receive a contact on the tabletop for 2 minutes, walk away, perhaps to answer a telephone call.
      • If a running application does not receive a contact on the tabletop for 2 minutes, the Microsoft Surface software displays a screen that offers the user two choices: return to the running application or close everything to start a new experience (session).
      • If a user does not respond to this screen within 60 seconds, the Microsoft Surface software automatically closes the session and returns to the attract application so that it is ready for the next group of people.If Launcher is active and there are applications running in the background, and if the Microsoft Surface software does not receive a contact on the tabletop for 2 minutes, the screen offers the Microsoft Surface software automatically ends the session and returns to the attract application so that it is ready for the next group of people.

      The time-out periods in the preceding list are the default values. You can change them. However, the time-out period, whatever it is, is the same for all applications. For more information about how to configure time-outs, see Configuring Surface Shell Time-Outs.