The phenomenal response to an article we published on this question led to detailed cognitive research – and the findings have implications that go way beyond gamers
The explanation I’ve heard for your trackpad argument is that the trackpad is “grabbing” the page or whatever, but I’ve never made that connection. Trackpad gestures to me are equivalent to the scrollwheel, they’re just a different way of interfacing with it. The only thing that “grabs” the page is my finger when it’s on a touch screen.
They’re not though. A trackpad processes relative inputs, while a touchscreen processes absolute inputs. If I touch the corner of my trackpad, it doesn’t produce a click on the corresponding corner of the screen like a touchscreen would. Likewise a touch and slide doesn’t drag stuff, it moves the cursor relative to where it was.
It’s much more similar to a mouse. In fact, if you just imagine your finger is a mouse, you’ve just described all of the functions of a touchpad except gestures, and gestures are just replacements for the buttons (two tap for right click, two finger slide for scroll wheel, etc).
Nope. Down to go down, up to go up. Always.
The explanation I’ve heard for your trackpad argument is that the trackpad is “grabbing” the page or whatever, but I’ve never made that connection. Trackpad gestures to me are equivalent to the scrollwheel, they’re just a different way of interfacing with it. The only thing that “grabs” the page is my finger when it’s on a touch screen.
Yeah and trackpads are basically remote touchscreens
They’re not though. A trackpad processes relative inputs, while a touchscreen processes absolute inputs. If I touch the corner of my trackpad, it doesn’t produce a click on the corresponding corner of the screen like a touchscreen would. Likewise a touch and slide doesn’t drag stuff, it moves the cursor relative to where it was.
It’s much more similar to a mouse. In fact, if you just imagine your finger is a mouse, you’ve just described all of the functions of a touchpad except gestures, and gestures are just replacements for the buttons (two tap for right click, two finger slide for scroll wheel, etc).