Why touch works

The reason touch works is often cited, it’s because it’s “intuitive”. But there is little talk about what makes touch devices more intuitive. We’re supposed to just believe that the finger is better. But discussing with my partner Sara this morning, I think I’ve understood why.

The mouse

As a tech savvy person it’s easy to forget all the knowledge we take for granted for using our devices. I uncovered one this I had been taking for granted, short commands. A someone who spends most of his waking time in front of a computer I started memorizing short commands and gestures many years ago. But most people don’t. For most people, short commands just don’t feel all that necessary. Using the mouse to point and click the bold button is simple enough. To me, it’s a huge waste of time.

The touch device

On touch devices however, this problem isn’t there. Either you touch the bold icon, or you don’t. The only short commands that are available are gestures which, while not always intuitive, always tend to work the same way. There are only about three gestures to learn on iOS for example. This is annoying to me, because my normal power-user habits need to change. But for the market at large, it’s the same interaction but finally without a mouse to get in the way.

Intuitive

The touch panel is intuitive because what you see is what you get. But what we, the power users, tend to forget that it’s more intuitive than we believe. Because all the hidden extras that we use on older devices just aren’t there.

Touch devices are leveling the playing field. And that’s why we feel we still need our old devices to get real work done.