The best discussion forums for Windows 8 and Windows Phone developers
Started coding or publishing and got stuck? Which discussion forum should you turn to?
Forums are a great resource when you get stuck. Here are some good ones for Windows 8 and Windows Phone developers. If you’ve found any great ones I should add, please share! Don't forget apps published by Canadians can earn rewards through Developer Movement!
Questions about Publishing?
The most common questions I am asked revolve around publishing. These forums are the perfect place to start when you run into issues publishing your app or you aren’t sure what to fix when you fail certification.
Windows Store
Windows Phone Store
Questions about Coding?
Too many programming languages! If you get stuck with a coding question, ask your fellow programmers for help!
Windows Store apps – Windows Store forums are broken up for different programming languages
Windows Phone apps
There are lots of forums out there specific to the individual programming languages as well that can help you when you are struggling with syntax. I won’t list them here, you can use Bing just as well as I can “C# Forum” “HTML5 Forum”
Questions about Unity
There is a public beta available for Windows 8 development, but no specific forum (yet) for Windows developers using Unity. So I would visit the Unity support forums and pick the forum that best matches your issue
Questions about Expression or Visual Studio
If you have been building for iOS and Android you may run into issues trying to get started with Visual Studio and Expression Blend. There are forums specific to app development and forums for Visual Studio itself. When you post to these forums be sure to specify what edition you are using (e.g. Express vs Professional, 2010 vs 2012)
- Tools for Windows Store Apps
- Tools for Windows Phone development
- Expression Blend for Windows Phone
- Visual Studio General Questions
- Visual Studio Setup and Installation
- Visual Studio Editor
- Test Tools in Visual Studio
- Visual Studio Unit Testing
- Visual Studio Diagnostics (Debugger, Profiler, Intellitrace)
- Expression Blend and SketchFlow
- Expression Design
Other interesting Forums
- Share your How to samples (Windows Phone)
- In-App Advertising (Windows Phone)
- UI Design for Windows Store apps
Best practices when posting to forums
As I was searching for discussion forums, I found some best practices posted at the Code Project. I thought I would include them in this post as a reminder to all of us.
- Choose the correct forum for your message. Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears.
- Be specific! Don't ask "can someone send me the code to create an application that does 'X'. Pinpoint exactly what it is you need help with.
- Keep the subject line brief, but descriptive. eg "File Serialization problem"
- Keep the question as brief as possible. If you have to include code, include the smallest snippet of code you can.
- Be careful when including code that you haven't made a typo. Typing mistakes can become the focal point instead of the actual question you asked.
- Do not remove or empty a message if others have replied. Keep the thread intact and available for others to search and read. If your problem was answered then edit your message and add "[Solved]" to the subject line of the original post, and cast an approval vote to the one or several answers that really helped you.
- Be courteous and DON'T SHOUT. Most of the contributors to forums do so because they enjoy helping others, not because it's their job.
- Please do not post links to your question into an unrelated forum.
- Do not be abusive, offensive, inappropriate or harass anyone on the boards.Play nice.
- If you have a school or university assignment, assume that your teacher or lecturer is also reading these forums.
- No advertising or soliciting.