The merging of touch and sensor hardware with Windows 8 on the latest Ultrabooks will provide new opportunities for application developers.  Beyond the technical basics of coding applications for touch and sensors, developers have the challenge to think through new usage models with Ultrabooks and to think though effective User Experience & Design parameters to create the best touch & sensor based experiences.  In addition to the resources listed on this page it is recommended you review Desktop vs Windows 8 UI modes for Ultrabook development as well as review the Ultrabook Feature Compatability Matrix

Below is a list of articles, guides and other resources to assist developing touch and sensor applications. This list will grow over time, so stay tuned to this page for more updates.

Touch Guide

• Ultrabook Device and Tablet Windows Touch Developer Guide
  This Guide contains information about the APIs that application developers need to use when they are developing apps targeted for Ultrabook™ devices. It covers information for developing apps that run on Windows* 7, Windows* 8 Desktop, Windows* Modern UI, as well as apps that run in web browsers. 

Sensor Guide

• Ultrabook and Tablet Windows 8 Sensors Development Guide
  This guide provides developers with an overview of the Windows 8* sensors application programming interfaces (APIs) for Desktop and Metro style applications with a specific focus on the various sensor capabilities available in Windows 8 Desktop mode.

Design & UI

• Designing for Ultrabook™ Devices and Touch-enabled Desktop Applications
  This document will look at how this impacts the design of user interfaces and provide some guidelines for building great software that will encourage interaction and a great user experience.
• Developing with Desktop Natural User Interface API’s for Developers
  In this article we are going to explore how designing for touch and NUI will impact the design and build decisions in creating great software, and look at what it takes to migrate existing applications to a touch-enabled environment.

Sample App

• Ultrabook™ Desktop Applications Development on Windows* 8: Photo Application with Touch and Sensors
  The guide provides a series of article that will walk you through the different aspects of application development for Ultrabook devices using code snippets from a sample photo application.

Additional Resources 

• Adding Ultrabook Sensor Control To HTML5 Desktop Apps
  Video and code sample showing how you start to build and test your HTML5 apps for touch and sensor capabilities using a Google Chrome extension.
• Detecting Ultrabook Sensors on Windows 8
  Ultrabooks and Convertibles based on the 3rd Generation Intel Core Processors come with new touch and sensor features. In this blog, we will focus on the sensors and how to detect their presence on an Ultrabook running Windows 8
• Re-imagining Apps for Ultrabook™
  (Part 1): Touch Interfaces | (Part 2): Touch Targets
  Welcome to the Re-imagining Apps for Ultrabook™ video series. This set of videos will not only introduce new ways of thinking about the design and development of desktop applications, but also offer practical design advice and guidelines to help you take advantage of the new opportunities we discuss. As your host, I’m really excited to kick things off.
• Intel App Show 29: Developing Ultrabook Apps for Touch & Sensors Technologies
  Video: Bob Duffy talks with Intel Engineer Daniel Holmlund, and show off an Ivy Bridge based Window 8 Ultrabook equipped with touch and sensor technology, while Daniel demonstrates code and apps that leverage multi-touch, gestures, and accelerometer in Windows 8 desktop mode.
• Enabling Touch in Windows 8* Metro Style Apps with C#
  This article discusses how to enable touch for Windows 8* Metro style apps using the C# programming language in the Visual Studio* 11 IDE. Any prior touch API familiarity is sufficient, and this document is straightforward for those new to touch enabling. The APIs listed are current as of the Windows 8 Release Preview version of the operating system and the corresponding Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 RC IDE. The article covers how to bind user touch events using both the Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) and "code-behind" (C# code) perspectives to create a rich user experience. A children's math game is used as an example use case for touch
• Windows 8* Metro Style App Development: Using WinRT from C#
  With the introduction of WinRT, a native set of APIs for Windows 8* Metro style app development, you might not consider choosing C# given the powerful option of native C++ or the flexible option of web development with HTML5 and JavaScript*. Microsoft has done a great job providing a first-rate and familiar experience for C# developers building Metro style applications and is a great language to use for your next Windows 8 application.
• Using Accelerometer in Windows 8* Metro Style App and a Case Study of Tap Detection
  Accelerometers are hardware sensors embedded in many modern portable devices, like smartphones and tablets. They measure the acceleration of a device in weight per unit of mass with respect to the earth’s gravity at sea level. They can be widely used for motion tracking, fall detection, gesture detection, etc. This article covers the use of accelerometers in Windows 8* Metro style applications and a case study on how to use accelerometers to detect tapping on the edges of a tablet. In addition, the case study highlights how to detect the direction of taps that result in slight device movement.
• The Human Touch: Building Ultrabook™ Applications in a Post-PC Age
  We’re used to interacting with our smart phones and Apple iPads* using touch. Yet, when we use a desktop or a notebook, we typically use a keyboard or mouse. With touch capability becoming available in more and more Ultrabook devices, Intel undertook a research program to better understand if and how people might use touch capabilities in more traditional, notebook form-factor devices.