Using Charms in Microsoft Windows 8
The Charms is one of the new user interfaces introduced in Windows 8. The purpose of the charms is to give us quick access to the important features as well as to the things that we often do such as searching, sharing links and photos, connecting to devices, and changing settings.
How to display the Charms
There are basically five default charms and there are several ways to bring them up on your screen. One way is using the mouse and moving the pointer to the lower right corner or to the upper right corner of the screen. For touch sensitive devices, another way is by swiping with your finger or thumb inwards; from the edge of the right side of the screen to the left. There is also a keyboard shortcut for summoning the charms and that is by pressing the combination Windows key + C.
The Charms
The first default charm which is Search allows you to search for anything on your device. You can either search the currently open app, the internet, or the entire PC or device. The keyboard shortcut for Search is Windows key + Q. The next one is Share which enables you to share things relevant to what you are doing at the moment on your device. You can send information and files with people you know or to another application without leaving the current application. The keyboard shortcut for Share is Windows key + H. The Start charm, just like pressing the Windows key or going to the bottom left corner of the screen, takes you to the Start Screen. You can also use this charm to go back to the last application that you were in, if you are already on the Start Screen. The Devices charm gives users access to devices connected, both wired or wireless, and available for use with the current application, screen or window. The keyboard shortcut for Devices is Windows key + K. The fifth default charm is Settings which gives you access to apps and PC settings. Settings vary for different applications while PC settings are the same wherever you are in Windows. The keyboard shortcut for Settings is Windows key + I.
More about the Charms
You will notice that when we bring up the charms, a separate overlay also appears at the bottom left of the screen displaying useful information including the time, date and notification icons for network connection and battery state of the device.
The charms bar usually appears on the right side of the screen. However, they do not always appear in the same place and be caused to appear by the same actions or events. Depending on the app that you are dealing with, at times they appear according to the position of a mouse cursor on a screen. In certain applications, you can display the charms by right clicking within the app or by flicking upwards with touch sensitive devices. The charms are normally hidden until we perform one of the methods mentioned, but some applications also have them visible all the time.
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Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
