
Yet, for things like games, tracing a pattern on the screen to cast a spell or invoke a special attack work wonderfully well. Swiping on a screen, waiting, and then watching it change is an example of how simple yet visceral the difference can be. There's no 1:1 relationship, and like a button you're ultimately watching rather than doing. However, the number of ways you can directly manipulate an interface element are inherently limited.Ībstract commands are when the gesture performed on the touchscreen has little or no relationship to the function it performs. They also offer the potential to "peek" at information by only partially sliding a panel open or turning a page. That's why they're more discoverable (you can often chance upon, and quickly come to understand them, through play), and more easily remembered. There's a 1:1 relationship between action and result that, when well implemented, feels like you're doing it, not just triggering it. Touching and sliding a virtual panel works like touching and sliding a real-world panel. Tapping a virtual button works like tapping a real-world button. Direct manipulation is akin to interacting with a physical object. abstract commandsīroadly speaking, there are two types of gesture controls, direct manipulation and abstract commands. The bad news is that they're not all consistent or symmetrical. The good news is that all of these are direct manipulations.

Especially ones that currently use the popular "hamburger button and basement sidebar" design (I'm looking at you Facebook, Google apps, etc.)Įven if iOS doesn't stomp all over them, if they look wrong, or simply feel wrong on iOS 7, they may be forced to change and become more Mail or Messages-like. However, the way Apple is implementing the interface in iOS 7 in general, because of that gesture in Mail or Messages, could make other apps look odd. Because the swipe-right gesture appears limited to certain apps, namely Mail and Messages, it won't collide with other apps already using that gesture.
