3 ms·

That is most definitely the coolest thing I've seen using JavaScript in a while.

moe 18y ago
Seconded. Unfortunately this is one of those technologies that you hardly ever get a chance to actually apply in a real project.
- ed 18y ago
  We implemented gestures in an early version of ipaper. Unfortunately it wasn't very usable. The physical analog -- swiping pages -- is far more comfortable than the same motion with a mouse. Incidentally we chose to watch cursor acceleration (removing the mouse-down step), which simplifies the gesture.
  - ensignavenger 18y ago
    I think it would be much more comfortable, and useful, if the user were using a touch screen, and could use gestures on the screen. If someone were viewing ipaper on the iPhone, that would be the way to go for navigation.
    - ed 18y ago
      I totally agree. Gestures on the iPhone work well because your hand is resting in a natural position. This is more or less true with track pads as well. If you're going to support mouse gestures, the system must be sensitive enough to act on small, finger-driven, movements. That is, the user must be able to gesture without moving their wrist.
alexk 18y ago
Gestures: [Press Ctrl] + Click + Drag Old style navigation: Click It's not hard to guess the winner
- 3ds 18y ago
  Sometimes it's nice not to have to search for the little button and press it that opens the next mail or goes to the next picture, but simply do a quick gesture. GMail actually has a labs setting for that. I use gestures for navigation all the time, as a firefox plugin, so i don't have to press the back arrow, but simply do a quick gesture. It's much faster, for me anyways.
  - Hexstream 18y ago
    "Sometimes it's nice not to have to search for the little button and press it that opens the next mail or goes to the next picture" Beats having to go look at the documentation to determine what gesture corresponds to the action you want to accomplish. Also, with gestures it seems to me there aren't very many intuitive gesture/action matches... I can only think of: left = go back right = go forward circle = reload X = delete left, right, up, down = pan in that direction There's certainly others but not a lot I think.
- run4yourlives 18y ago
  For a web page, you're exactly right, but imagine a functional app that you use every day. If you've done any amount of user research, you know that thigh-speed users hate using the keyboard and mouse at the same time. For most instances keyboard is king, but for a few, using a mouse exclusively is a great benefit...browsing pictures, for example. (Just FYI I clicked to turn them on and didn't need to use Ctrl)
  - Calamitous 18y ago
    "thigh-speed" users? I've dealt with some unusual users, but this sounds like it could be interesting... :)
    - run4yourlives 18y ago
      lol, gotta love those fat fingers of mine. :-)
- 18y ago
jacoblyles 18y ago
I don't like that you have to click for the gesture and that enabling gestures disables clicking on normal links. Other than that, I think it is pretty cool. I have seen things like this before, but never in such an easy-to-copy javascript implementation.

moe 18y ago

Seconded. Unfortunately this is one of those technologies that you hardly ever get a chance to actually apply in a real project.

ed 18y ago
We implemented gestures in an early version of ipaper. Unfortunately it wasn't very usable. The physical analog -- swiping pages -- is far more comfortable than the same motion with a mouse. Incidentally we chose to watch cursor acceleration (removing the mouse-down step), which simplifies the gesture.
- ensignavenger 18y ago
  I think it would be much more comfortable, and useful, if the user were using a touch screen, and could use gestures on the screen. If someone were viewing ipaper on the iPhone, that would be the way to go for navigation.
  - ed 18y ago
    I totally agree. Gestures on the iPhone work well because your hand is resting in a natural position. This is more or less true with track pads as well. If you're going to support mouse gestures, the system must be sensitive enough to act on small, finger-driven, movements. That is, the user must be able to gesture without moving their wrist.

alexk 18y ago

Gestures: [Press Ctrl] + Click + Drag Old style navigation: Click It's not hard to guess the winner

3ds 18y ago
Sometimes it's nice not to have to search for the little button and press it that opens the next mail or goes to the next picture, but simply do a quick gesture. GMail actually has a labs setting for that. I use gestures for navigation all the time, as a firefox plugin, so i don't have to press the back arrow, but simply do a quick gesture. It's much faster, for me anyways.
- Hexstream 18y ago
  "Sometimes it's nice not to have to search for the little button and press it that opens the next mail or goes to the next picture" Beats having to go look at the documentation to determine what gesture corresponds to the action you want to accomplish. Also, with gestures it seems to me there aren't very many intuitive gesture/action matches... I can only think of: left = go back right = go forward circle = reload X = delete left, right, up, down = pan in that direction There's certainly others but not a lot I think.
run4yourlives 18y ago
For a web page, you're exactly right, but imagine a functional app that you use every day. If you've done any amount of user research, you know that thigh-speed users hate using the keyboard and mouse at the same time. For most instances keyboard is king, but for a few, using a mouse exclusively is a great benefit...browsing pictures, for example. (Just FYI I clicked to turn them on and didn't need to use Ctrl)
- Calamitous 18y ago
  "thigh-speed" users? I've dealt with some unusual users, but this sounds like it could be interesting... :)
  - run4yourlives 18y ago
    lol, gotta love those fat fingers of mine. :-)
18y ago

jacoblyles 18y ago

I don't like that you have to click for the gesture and that enabling gestures disables clicking on normal links. Other than that, I think it is pretty cool. I have seen things like this before, but never in such an easy-to-copy javascript implementation.