Navigating the Start Screen with a Touch Interface
We used to always say that Windows was built
with the mouse in mind. After all, the easiest way to use screen
elements such as the Start menu, the taskbar, toolbars, ribbons, and
dialog boxes was via mouse manipulation. In Windows 8, however, most of
these screen elements are gone (or appear only in the Desktop app).
Yes, as you saw earlier, you can still use your mouse to display the
app bar, the Charms menu, and to scroll the screen, but what if you’re
using a computer that doesn’t even have a mouse? We’re talking of
course about the tablet PC, a device that is basically just a glass
screen with no mouse or keyboard in sight (excluding the cover/keyboard
of the Microsoft Surface).
For tablet PCs that come with no input devices, it’s now safe to say that Windows 8 was built with touch
in mind. That is, instead of using a mouse or keyboard to manipulate
Windows 8, you use your fingers to touch the screen in specific ways
called gestures. (Some tablet PCs also come with a small pen-like device called a stylus, and you can use the stylus instead of your finger for some actions.)
What are these gestures? Here’s a list:
• Tap—Use your finger
(or the stylus) to touch the screen and then immediately release it.
This is the touch equivalent of a mouse click.
• Double-tap—Tap and release the screen twice, one tap right after the other. This is the touch equivalent of a mouse double-click.
• Tap and hold—Tap the
screen and leave your finger (or the stylus) resting on the screen
until the shortcut menu appears. This is the touch equivalent of a
mouse right-click, and it works most often in desktop apps, not Windows
8 apps.
• Swipe—Quickly and
briefly run your finger along the screen. This usually causes the
screen to scroll in the direction of the swipe, so it’s roughly
equivalent to scrolling with the mouse wheel. You also use the swipe to
display some of the Windows 8 interface elements: swipe up from the
bottom edge of the screen (or down from the top edge) to display the
app bar; swipe left from the right edge to display the Charms menu;
swipe down on a tile to select it.
• Slide—Place your
finger on the screen, move your finger, and then release. This is the
touch equivalent of a mouse click and drag, so you usually use this
technique to move an object from one place to another. However, this is
also ideal for scrolling, so you can scroll the Start screen or a
Windows 8 app horizontally by sliding your finger right and left on the
screen, making this technique the touch equivalent of clicking and
dragging the scroll box.
• Pinch—Place two
fingers apart on the screen and bring them closer together. This
gesture zooms out on whatever is displayed on the screen, such as a
photo. On the Start screen, use the pinch gesture to invoke the
Semantic Zoom feature.
• Spread—Place two
fingers close together on the screen and move them farther apart. This
gesture zooms in on whatever is displayed on the screen, such as a
photo. On the Start screen, use the spread gesture to turn off Semantic
Zoom.
• Turn—Place
two fingers on the screen and turn them clockwise or counterclockwise.
This gesture rotates whatever is displayed on the screen, such as a
photo.
Note
If you don’t see the Keyboard icon in the
taskbar, tap and hold the taskbar to display the shortcut menu, tap
Toolbars, and then tap Touch Keyboard.
You can also use touch to enter text by using the onscreen touch keyboard, shown in Figure 3.
To display the keyboard in a Windows 8 app, tap inside whatever box
you’ll be using to type the text; in a Desktop app, tap the Keyboard
icon that appears in the taskbar.
Figure 3. To type on a tablet PC, use the touch keyboard.
As pointed out in Figure 3, you can tap the key in the bottom-right corner to see a selection of keyboard layouts, including the one shown in Figure 3,
a split keyboard, and a writing pad for inputting handwritten text
using a stylus (or, in a pinch, a finger). There’s also a full keyboard
available, but you have to follow these steps to enable it:
1. Swipe left from the right edge to display the Charms menu.
2. Tap Settings to open the Settings pane.
3. Tap Change PC Settings to open the PC Settings app.
4. Tap General.
5. Tap the Make the Standard Keyboard Layout Available switch to On.
