“Elements that rely only on mousemove, mouseover, mouseout or the CSS pseudo-class :hover may not always behave as expected on a touch-screen device such as iPad or iPhone.” A few days after Steve Jobs announced the release of the iPad, I read that sentence in Apple’s Reference Library: Preparing Your Web Content for iPad, and started to realize the drastic implications the evolution of multi-touch would have on interaction design. Anything we design for the web that requires a hover state has an uncertain… Read More
If you’re worried about what might happen to your precious new iPad whilst passing it around so that friends and loved ones can take it for a test drive, let me commend to you this Phil Dunphy-inspired iPad wallpaper. This quote, taken from a recent episode of Modern Family when Phil gets an iPad for his birthday will provide a gentle reminder for everyone to “Touch it, but don’t touch it.” Click here to download the 1024px x 1024px wallpaper.
Recently, via Dribbble, I’ve had the privilege of seeing some of the progress Shaun Inman has made on his latest project, Mimeoverse: Mimeo and the Kleptopus King. It’s an iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch game where you collect power-ups that upscale the character as well as the bit resolution of the game world itself. From story writing and musical composition to pixel art, I’m amazed at the wide range of skills required to pull off something like this. Shaun is now tumbling the innovation… Read More
Multi-touch will change everything For years, web designers have been working within a firmly established jig. Books have been published, studies have been conducted and businesses have been built on a handful of fundamental interface design principles. Many of these rules have been written based on the understanding that a mouse will be serving as the primary tool in carrying out the user’s will. What happens if this lowest common denominator for user interface design is replaced with a finger tip? Multi-touch technology will… Read More
