Yesterday, I caught myself poking at my laptop screen three times. With the addition of NetNewsWire and OmniFocus, I find myself using my iPhone more and more even when I’m at my computer. One of the unexpected side effects is that not being able to touch my screen suddenly seems rather strange. This is especially true when moving between the iPhone and my Mac. All those delicious little app icons in my doc are just begging to be touched. The little exposed corner of my iChat window under Safari begs me to poke it.
I don’t think touch computing is going to replace the mouse just yet, and we’re certainly not ready to give up our keyboards, but hasn’t the time come for us to be able to touch our screens. If you can find somebody who’s never used or observed a computer before, sit them down in front of your machine. Ask them to click on something or move a window. I’ll bet you they don’t reach for the mouse. The most natural way to interact with the spacial metaphor of windows is to touch them.
It doesn’t matter if you’re sporting dual thirties or a svelte thirteen point three, chances are, you’re using all of the real estate and more. Far too much time is spent moving panels around to get what you want in front of you. The mouse is just not the right tool for the job. It’s too limited. You have to find the point you want to drag, find your pointer, move your pointer to the point you want to drag, then move the window. The problem is even worse for drag/resize maneuvers. Studies have shown that there is a marked productivity increase associated with having a larger display. This is because it reduces the amount of time you have to spend organizing your windows.
Styluses suck. We don’t need them. They’re not the answer. We need sexy glass surfaces that respond to our fingers in the most natural way possible. Apple has already taught us several multi-touch gestures with the iPhone. There’s no reason they can’t translate directly to the OS X windowing system. Touch and drag to move windows. Pinch to resize. Tap to click. That’s all we need to start with. From there, you can expose the stuff to the application and let apps do clever things or do nothing.
The world is ready. We have the technology. Let us have it.
It already exists, although probably not in the form you’re looking for.
Microsoft Surface exists for a hefty $10,000 … a table you can touch, gesture, place items on, and integrate several devices through it. While not practical for most, it’s actually a reasonable price for something so sophisticated.
Also, tablet PCs (in both the slate and convertible form factors) have been around for ages. Many of them require a statically charged pen, but many of them are active pressure sensative, and allow you to touch! No, not the sexy glass screen that the iPhone offers, but it’s pretty useful! I play crosswords on my tablet at home (in fact, that’s the primary purpose of it for me), and I love being able to naturally write on the crossword (and see it all on one screen at the same time). The best part is that it downloads the latest puzzles from newspapers for me. I’m saving trees I suppose.
Many people have installed the hackint0sh x86 versions of OSX onto their tablet PCs, giving them the strength of the OSX Touch features. Of course, there is always that one vendor who is making an iTablet out of iBooks and MacBooks by placing a touch membrane and modifying the case. Rumors have circulated for a long time about the MacTablet, but it’s not here yet, even if it’s coming.
Lastly, there are those UMPCs and desktop PCs that have the monitors built in with touch interfaces. They’re not expensive either!
The technology is here and available to all, it’s just not coming from a little Cupertino company called Apple.
Dude, I’ve done that so many times. When it has no effect I actually find myself asking “wtf?” and tapping again.