iPad: New Era of Computer Interaction

Great overview of new multi-touch gestures demonstrated by the iPad keynote.

I’m convinced the new gesture language presented here will change computing on a very fundamental level. These examples are from the iWork software that was completely redesigned for the iPhone OS. And as you can see, it’s brilliantly aligned with the input (your fingers).

Also take for instance the Photos app and its layout of “stacks”: think about applying the pinch out (to open a stack) and the pinch in (to close a stack) for folders. You have a bunch of document folders and you pinch your way down sub-folders until you get to your document. You can apply this gesture “language” to a bunch of stuff, as Luke points out; the gestures can easily translate to the smaller screen on the iPhone.

Think about what was demonstrated in Numbers — the holding and pulling out of pie chart elements. The resizing of images in Keynote with helpful alignment guides and pixel measurements. Intuitive word-wrapping of images in Pages. Masking images. Adding charts. Moving data. Dragging formulas. Everything has been translated and everything seems easier.

Apple is taking us away from mouses and bringing us organically closer to what we do with computers by employing our fingers.

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