And the First Chapter/Topic will be…

Plotting out the book topic list this past weekend on flights home from New Zealand, it occurred to me that I need to start writing the darn thing too. I mean, anyone can announce that they’re going to change the way they publish books. But the trick is to actually write the book.

And you have to start somewhere.

Windows Phone 8 is a tough topic currently because it’s not available yet. I don’t have a device, though I do have a leaked copy of the SDK, which provides some clues, but not enough to base chapters of new information. So for the first chapter (or perhaps “topic” depending on how the structure pans out), I figured it made sense to stick with something that was somewhat substantial (i.e. not Calculator) but not likely to change too much between the current version of the product, Windows Phone 7.5, and the next.

I chose Calendar.

Now, I should warn you up front: I tend to write in a, well, non-linear fashion. So I may move on and off Calendar in the days ahead, and like everything else in the book, this topic will need to be readdressed and updated over time as the Calendar app (in this case) in Windows Phone 8 is updated. (Assuming it is.) But ... yeah, let’s start with Calendar.

I’ve written a lot about the Windows Phone Calendar app in the past, both on the SuperSite for Windows and of course in Windows Phone Secrets. I won’t be referring to that work while writing this chapter, however, and that will be the case throughout the book: This is all-new content, period. I won’t be plagiarizing myself. But that also means I’ll need held here as elsewhere to make sure I’m giving this topic the right amount of coverage.

This will be easier once I’ve actually written text for the book, but my notes for this chapter currently includes a super-set of the following:

Introduction – Calendar is part of Outlook Mobile

Accounts integration – Microsoft account, Outlook, Google, Facebook

Understanding the user experience

Calendars and meetings (appointments)

Create and mange appointments

Multiple calendar support

Facebook events

Quick events

To-do list

Live tile

Notifications

Meeting features: Running late, see who’s attending

Integration with Mail (view and respond to meeting requests in email) and Lync (join conference call from a calendar meeting)

Integration with Maps (address for meeting links to a map)

Integration with Speech (press and hold Start button and say “Open Calendar”)

Anyway, I’ll get started on this chapter this week. As always, things change once the writing begins, but you have to start somewhere.

Comments

[Shane Michelon]

Your initial structure for the Calendar seems solid, though perhaps too deep. But I guess it is better to start with too many areas rather than too few.. Can I suggest that you modify these forums to allow for a FAQ section, where readers can submit FAQs they think up (and the solution, if they know it). As you write each chapter, people will think up many questions which can be addressed in an FAQ.. For instance, with calendar, one potential question might be: 'Can I pin an appointment to the start screen for convenient reference'. This may be a silly question but it is a good example. It would be a challenge to find the answer to this sort of question by browsing the chapters, but an FAQ might easily answer it.

[Daniel Wingard]

Possible structure - by activity (presumably starting with initial behaviors to more advanced ones)

INTRO & SETUP: initial use and configuration choices, other/multiple calendar services, fun tip or neat realization at first open
CREATE: discuss UI and subsections: new tasks (options), events (link to SHARE here), to-do lists (can I separate them? hierarchical options?), add-ins: data-types (can I include a picture or external data?), how do embedded links or content behave?
MODIFY/Manage & Delete: Make changes to tasks, events (do they push to third party services?), discuss how a "modify" dialogue may differ from a "create", How do you remove things? (does that push to 3rd party services?)
VIEW: differentiate active (Calendar application is open - how are things represented?) and passive (Live tile updates (frequency of update?), Alerts (link to ALERTs section), how do different services appear (colors? icons?). Do alerts still show up while in the application? During a game? Alert options for calendar (can I have a pop-up?)
SHARE: distribute tasks, calendar actions, events to third party apps/services
INTEGRATE: How does it play with other applications on WP - can I import from a third party program.. how?
SUMMARY & something unexpected that it can do: finish with a little fun tip
FUTURE & Upgrades: How can it get better (I like the editorial nature that is possible with this forum - let's provide suggestions and discussion - education is 2 way)

[Theo]

Hello Paul,
I think choosing Calendar to start off the book is a smart choice.
Once that is done, how about continuing with the first rough fundamentals for a chapter on the people hub?

In my opinion documenting the Me & People Hub will be quite a challenge. Personally I think this is one of the strongest but also most difficult to explain features for those not being a "Windows Phone insiders". IMHO (not a writer): my first impression was "Ah, yes, nice!". But it took me quite some time to discover how genius this feature actually is. And at this time I still would have trouble explaining!

- Theo.