Additional Touch Gestures Needed on the Surface Pro

[mlknez]

I think you are all missing the point... In the metro email app, I have 50 items in my inbox. I want to select all of them and delete, how do I do that? Second, I want to select items 4 - 20 and delete those, how do I do it without bringing up the on-screen keyboard and with no keyboard attached?

Wouldn't it be nice if I could just draw a clockwise circle in the listed emails to select all? What about tap and hold the first item, then with a second figure tap the last item to select a contiguous list? How about a three finger swipe down to refresh in any app?

How about a diagonal swipe northwest to cut, diagonal swipe northeast to copy, diagonal swipe southeast to paste and southwest to undo.

 

[ArnoldC]

<snip>How about a diagonal swipe northwest to cut, diagonal swipe northeast to copy, diagonal swipe southeast to paste and southwest to undo.

Not gonna happen. The GestureRecognizer class doesn't support any of them. Perhaps a different implementation, but not as you suggested.

 

[J515OP]

Again, what you are asking for can be implemented by the app developer. It really is that simple and the way every other app device (iOS and Android) works. It would be nice to have a select all in the mail app but MS left that out. Perhaps another developer will make a better mail app.

In fact leaving these things up to the developers has pushed UI further than the OS design alone. We have app designers to thank for the pull to refresh and slide left or right to reveal an additional panel design features we now see commonly implemented in apps across all platforms.



Side Navigation UI Pattern in Android | Android User Interface | User Experience

 

[mph]

As I'm a huge fan of the mouse gestures on the firefox / chrome desktop programs (realizing gestures by tracking mouse path with right mousebutton held):
did anyone tride these on the surface via touch? AND anyone tried the win8 firefox ?

 

[ybahman]

To make the Surface Pro a viable tablet, we are missing some important gestures. We need the equivalent of:

1. Click/Shift-click to select multiple adjacent items
2. Ctrl-a to select all
3. F5, refresh the current app/window

What other gestures do you think are missing or would be necessary if you are using the system without the keyboard?

Maybe try TouchMe Gesture Studio =]
Microsoft News | Customize Your Very Own Touchscreen Gestures On Your Windows 8 Device Using TouchMe Gesture Studio, It?s Awesome

 

[jamesdinwiddie]

Is there a gesture to jump back to the top of a webpage without having to scroll all the way back up? That's the gesture I need most.

On my iPad I can tap the top of the screen to perform this action.

 

[mlknez]

Maybe try TouchMe Gesture Studio =]
Microsoft News | Customize Your Very Own Touchscreen Gestures On Your Windows 8 Device Using TouchMe Gesture Studio, It?s Awesome

Thanks. It looks like this will be an excellent addition.

 

[ybahman]

Is there a gesture to jump back to the top of a webpage without having to scroll all the way back up? That's the gesture I need most.

On my iPad I can tap the top of the screen to perform this action.

You may be able to use touchme to do this, but it is likely going to be complicated because there's no way to simultaneously touch the screen AND send the home button at the same time to scroll. If you do so, the native touch-to-pan feature 'wins'. You can definitely do some autohotkey magic though, which is triggered off of a gesture. feel free to hit me up if you have any questions (might be a good idea to email me if you're looking for an answer quick though, since I can't check all the forums all the time. =] )

 

[Randy Gibbs]

Again, what you are asking for can be implemented by the app developer. It really is that simple and the way every other app device (iOS and Android) works. It would be nice to have a select all in the mail app but MS left that out. Perhaps another developer will make a better mail app.

In fact leaving these things up to the developers has pushed UI further than the OS design alone. We have app designers to thank for the pull to refresh and slide left or right to reveal an additional panel design features we now see commonly implemented in apps across all platforms.

View attachment 347

Side Navigation UI Pattern in Android | Android User Interface | User Experience

As mlknez said, you are missing the point.
I recently purchased a Surface Pro 3. I use Microsoft Outlook hundreds of times a day. I get several hundred emails a day. I cannot select multiple emails to either delete them, or file them into another folder etc. I can bring up the on screen keyboard and select all, however I don't want to delete all or move all or copy all. I want to select message 74 through 120 and delete them. I want to select message 50, 54, 73, 110, and 150 and move them. I may be wrong but I cannot find a way to do that. Saying that is up to the app developer, Microsoft in this case, the same developer as the OS, is in my opinion, a cop out. Was it the app developer that implemented shift-click or Ctrl-click or Ctrl-A etc? Wasn't that a feature of the OS? I am now less efficient with the Surface Pro 3 than I was with my desktop Mac or PC. I just want to use my device to get my job don with the least amount of effort. Isn't that what we all want?