Windows 8 : Touch and Gestures - Touch Navigation

Windows 8 comes with a touch “language” that is used throughout the operating system—not just on the Start screen or in tile-based apps but on the Desktop as well.

These are the six basic gestures in Windows 8:

• Tap (and, less frequently, double-tap)

• Tap and hold

• Swipe (tap and drag)

• Pinch

• Expand

• Rotate

The six basic touch gestures supported in Windows 8

Microsoft publishes guidance for developers on the design principles that apply to the touch interface. Here are some key principles:

• Adopt the Windows 8 touch language in your applications (of course).

• Use fingers for large targets that support direct manipulation, such as tiles.

• Use finger pinch and expand for semantic zoom.

• Swipe for pans.

• Provide user feedback for touch interactions such as moves.

• Provide for an undo feature.

• Provide multi-touch features for custom application commands.

Windows 8 supports up to eight points of finger interaction.

• Touch interactions such as double-tap or tap and hold should be untimed because they are difficult to perform with fingers.

• Tap is for primary action (launching and opening); slide is for movement or panning; and swipe selects, commands, or moves objects.

• Tap and hold should display context information or help.

• Swipe from the top or bottom edge is for app commands , and swipe from the left or right edge is for system commands .

Swipe from the bottom or top edge of your display to view application commands and toolbars.

Swipe from the right or left edge of your display to view system commands and toolbars.

If this is the guidance that Microsoft gives developers, then you should anticipate that more and more of these types of actions will be available to you as a user of Windows 8-compatible applications. You should experiment to see which ones are currently supported. These touch interface guidelines require not only application support but also digitizing surfaces and new sets of device drivers. So the eventual range of interactions will take some time to develop.

Semantic Zoom

A semantic zoom is more than a simple enlargement. In a normal zoom, you drill in to view the same information expanded in size. A semantic zoom changes what you see based on the current size of the object.

For example, consider the back of a baseball card. At a far zoom, where the object is small, you might see only the baseball player’s name. Zoom in closer to a medium level and not only does the name appear, but also the team and position. At a close zoom, you can see the entire card, with the player’s picture, year and lifetime statistics, and other information.

Semantic zoom is a much more powerful way to manipulate objects on small displays when you have only gross manipulations, such as pinch or expand, available to you.