Is there a design pattern for pull-down to <action> gestures?

Question

Wondering if there is a design pattern for the RealMac Clear app on iOS that enables uses to create a list item by pull down?

I have seen pull down to refresh on Android and WP7 issue, btw: https://plus.google.com/109453683460749241197/posts/eqYxXR8L4eb

This is about Create on iOS.

Answer 1

I believe the pull-down-to-refresh pattern was created by Loren Brichter when he created Tweetie, which was bought by Twitter in 2010 and made the official client for iOS and latter Android. Since then pull to refresh has become an established pattern on iOS used in various apps, especially news apps. I don't think pull to refresh is very common on Android (as suggested by your linked article) but it is used on Twitter for Android.

I've only played with Clear a little bit and it seems like they've created many new usage patterns, and although they're new and not established it seems to work for them. I'd be somewhat hesitant to use a pull-down-to-create pattern at this point, it's just not established enough, although it might fit in with your app if you're going for that buttonless style. But if there are already buttons on your app, I'd just use the more conventional "Create" button.

Answer 2

As Obelia already mentioned, the pull-down-to-refresh pattern is already somewhat established. However, even if it wasn't, the 'refresh' trigger in these apps is generally tied to an action that is highly likely to take place even if the user is unaware of the action, such as scrolling to the top of a list (for example, Mail on the iPhone/iPad). This largely sidesteps the need to educate a user as to how it works. It just happens!

With that in mind, I'd be very careful trying to use this trigger method for anything that isn't already intrinsically tied to related actions on the page. Further, if the feature lacked a visual prompt it would almost certainly confuse new users, and likely irritate existing users.

So, unless the pull-down action is part of a common family of the app's general interface, or tied to an event (like scroll-down), be very careful about trying to use it, at least for now. However, if you must, ensure there are some friendly cues to help your users out.