The best scroll direction | Apple v.s. Windows [duplicate]

Question

The two biggest computer companies in the world use opposite scrolling directions!

When you switch from Windows to Apple, you'll notice that Apple has its scrolling reversed. But maybe it's Windows who has its scrolling reversed..

Which makes me wonder: what scrolling direction is the right direction and should it be different than a the swiping direction of a touch pad?

Things to consider:

• What's natural? In what direction would a first time user scroll to go down the page?

• Should a mouse have the same scrolling direction as a touchpad?

Answer 1

There’s no “right” way. It’s all in the analogy.

The Touch Screen Analogy

When you use a touch screen, the scrolling behavior is intuitive — it’s like you put your finger on the actual content and push it around. A few years ago, Apple switched their scrolling direction to follow this analogy.

The Scroll Bar Analogy

Another way to look at (Windows-style) scrolling is that you are interacting with the scrollbar, rather than with the controls. Apple is not keen on the whole concept of scrollbars currently, and hides them in many contexts by default. This pushes the concept of scrolling gestures interacting directly the content.

The Mouse-Wheel Analogy

The first trackpad scrolling mimiced how mouse scrolling worked. And the first scrolling mouse had physical wheels (many still do). If you imagine the scroll wheel sitting on a paper you were reading, the “Windows” scrolling direction is intuitive — the content moves in the direction the wheel would push it.

Apple mice don’t have these physical wheels anymore, so they are pushing for the touchscreen analogy for all their scrolling devices. But when I plug my old-school mouse with the real wheel into my Mac, the Apple’s “Natural Scrolling” doesn’t feel so natural anymore.

Your Brain doesn’t really care

Users generally find it takes just a moment to adjust to the new paradigm when the scrolling is working the opposite way. I don’t know of any “regular Joe” users who get upset about this, they jiggle the scroll a moment to get used to it, and start using the device.

Answer 2

Both the platforms assume different mental models.

1. Apple assumes that users are scrolling the view itself and hence it should move in its direction.
2. Microsoft has a mental model of a window blinds. I mean real windows, with curtains and all. When you pull the ropes down, the curtain goes up. Similarly the scroll bar, when pulled down the view goes up.

Both Apple and Microsoft were early in the PC game, and users didn't have a mental model already in their mind because a mouse was a completely new gadget, so they learned the ones they started with.

But of course, if it's a touch screen, there is no ambiguity, you are touching, so the view should behave like an object when touched. Imagine a paper, if you swipe up, it goes up.

Answer 3

The right direction, in my option, is whatever the user or group feels most comfortable with - you should leave the option up to the target you're dealing with.

I use a Mac but I always set the scroll on my trackpad to 'un-natural'. I think the main reason for this, for me is, as previously mentioned in another answer, I was born in an earlier era and when I scrolled down/up it was without a mouse-wheel so you had to literally click and scroll down/up in the direction you wanted to go. When I first used the mouse-wheel you scrolled towards the direction you wanted to go. When I first used a track-pad it was the same logic. I remember when Apple changed this but I was used to the 'un-natural' way.

I don't find it a problem using the 'natural' way but I guess it's habit now and I've always set it to the way I used at the start.

One thing I do find interesting about the natural/un-natural scroll on the default Mac settings is that the default side to side scroll on a Mac (i.e. going between left and right between desktop screens) uses the 'un-natural' scroll. I find it more streamlined if I keep the up and down scroll 'un-natural' as the side to side scroll is set, by default, to 'un-natural'.