Chapter 8: Swipe!Pinch! Flick! Working with gestures

In this chapter there are the challenges and opportunities presented by touchscreen gestures in mobile app design. Some include Transition from Traditional Computing:Touchscreens make computing more immediate and personal by eliminating the distance imposed by screens, mice, and keyboards. Gesture Challenges and Opportunities:Touchscreens introduce a variety of gestures beyond tapping, such as dragging, flicking, and pinching. Some gestures are immediately evident, while others are less intuitive, especially those unrelated to familiar physical interactions. Discoverability of Gestures: Obvious gestures involve direct manipulation of onscreen objects, such as tapping buttons, dragging, or sliding lists, Abstract gestures, less resembling physical actions, are often overlooked and require explicit instruction for discovery.

There are   examples, guidelines, and strategies for designing effective and user-friendly touchscreen gestures in mobile apps. Paving Cow paths Concept: The idea is to design interfaces based on the patterns users naturally follow, just like footpaths emerge on a university campus. Observing users, especially first-timers, helps identify unsuccessful gesture attempts and repetitive, time-consuming actions. Repetitive, Time-Consuming :Identifying actions that users perform repeatedly can highlight the need for shortcuts or alternative gestures.

Non-obvious gestures should have backup plans to accommodate users who may not figure them out naturally. Designers should avoid hijacking standard gestures for entirely different purposes, as it may confuse users and violate expectations. In general the designer should study  and design on the user’s  behavior, make interactions more intuitive, and balance custom gestures with discoverability.