I was previously developing Android apps. There we have the very detailed specification of the Material Design AND there are apps like Google Mail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calender that strictly follow that specification. I often get my ideas from those apps.
Now, I'd like to have this same set (specification AND show case apps implementing it) for Windows desktop. I need it for a powerful desktop-only application to write individual reports in the enterprise sector.
What I found so far:
- Guidelines for Windows desktop that look very much like Windows 7 (example). I fear that those guidelines are pretty soon outdated.
- Guidelines for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) look modern, but did not convince myself yet, that they can get used for powerful thick windows applications. I don't know any show case apps for that.
- Office 2016 seems to use UWP for smartphones and tablets pretty consistent, but I could not find an official guideline they apply to for their desktop (mouse oriented) part.
