I’ve been writing c# and XAML code for Windows 8 for the last six months. During that time, I have used various utility programs to help with my development. I hope to update this post with new tools as I use them. Here are the tools that have proven the most useful:
Metro Studio 2
Syncfusion
Metro Studio is a Windows desktop program for creating images for buttons, icons, etc. The program boasts a huge library of images that can be scaled, flipped, rotated, and combined with various backgrounds, to create the final image. the final image can be exported to a PNG file, allowing it to be a white image on a transparent background if needed.
This is a great program. Creating white-on-transparent images is tricky in other programs. being able to add a circle around the selected image makes toolbar icons a snap to make.
The current version, although it is worth more than a few dollars, is free right now. I highly recommend this program. the other products from Syncfusion are worth checking out.
Styles
Federico Tomasi
The Styles app is a simple style selector that provides application bar buttons, font styles, Segoe font symbols, and named colors. These resources are all the resources that would be typically used in a C#/XAML Windows Store project in Visual Studio. They probably apply to JS and VB development as well.
This is a nice app and I use it quite a bit. It shows the last few items selected from any groups, and it loads and displays information quickly compared to another similar app that I tried.