Tell me more ×
User Experience Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for user experience researchers and experts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 10 down vote favorite
2

last week, our project manager mentioned that we needed to incorporate more of the "big 3" gestures in our mobile software. unfortunately, she's off on vacation now and none of us know what exactly this means.

what are the "big 3"?

share|improve this question
4  
I sympathise deeply with anyone who works with a project manager who drops vague ideas from on high, doesn't explain, and then goes on vacation :) – David More Aug 21 '12 at 23:28

1 Answer

up vote 20 down vote accepted

The big three gestures are tap, swipe/flick and pinch/reverse pinch.

Tap Swipe Pinch

These are the rudimentary motions that are inherent to the end-user for mobile devices. This is due to the early adopters of mobile technology incorporating these gestures in their proprietary software, conditioning consumers to use these motions throughout their devices. Thus, many application developers have chosen to incorporate these motions to better aid usability. The other two more popular gestures, pan and rotate, are derivatives of pinch and swipe respectively and are more situational in terms of their use-cases.

Citations:

http://appdeveloper.intel.com/en-us/article/porting-gesture-recognizers-apple-ios-meego-using-photo-viewer-example/

Includes tutorials on tap/swipe/pinch functionality and mentions the similarities between rotating/swiping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS

Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch, all of which have specific definitions within the context of the iOS operating system and its multi-touch interface.

http://www.foraker.com/introducing-ux-recorder-screen-recording-software-for-ios/

It also captures touch screen navigation, including gestures like swipes, pinches, and taps.

http://www.fastpdfkit.com/

The interface: tap, double-tap, swipe, pinch – everything you would expect from Apple’s iOS.

share|improve this answer
Are you sure these are specifically the Big 3? How do you know that, for instance, two-finger scrolling doesn't count as one of the big 3? Basically I'm asking; can you cite your sources here? – JonW♦ Aug 20 '12 at 15:58
3  
(Sufficient?) citations added. I will look for more evidence if required. – Daniel Li Aug 20 '12 at 16:12
Excellent, yes. Thanks for adding those, it's an ideal answer now. – JonW♦ Aug 20 '12 at 16:29
Dragging is another big one, technically distinct from swipe, but this is generally automatically done by the OS, not the app (as a scroll action) – Ben Brocka♦ Aug 20 '12 at 16:47
4  
Android also has long-press, which is fairly distinct from "tap". Don't know about iOS/others – Izkata Aug 20 '12 at 18:08

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.