Question

In Windows Store App Split Page template, we can see below XAML code.

        <!-- Vertical scrolling item list -->
    <ListView
        x:Name="itemListView"
        AutomationProperties.AutomationId="ItemsListView"
        AutomationProperties.Name="Items"
        TabIndex="1"
        Grid.Row="1"
        Margin="-10,-10,0,0"
        Padding="120,0,0,60"
        IsSwipeEnabled="False"
        SelectionChanged="ItemListView_SelectionChanged">

The margin property has -10 leftside value. why Microsoft guys put -10 not 0?

Answer 1

If you set the top margin to zero then the placement of a control is not moved. Similarly, if you set a top margin of positive 10, the placement of the control is down 10 units. Conversely, if you set a top margin of negative 10, the placement is up 10 units.

Sometimes developers freak when they see negative margins, but they are a very flexible and powerful way to manipulate the position of a control on a canvas. That said, I find that some (all?) of the default templates in Visual Studio for Windows 8 aren’t best practices.