Thursday, January 16, 2020

What are some alternatives to "hover" on touch-based devices?


Came up recently in a 37signals podcast:


http://37signals.com/podcast#episode18


The straightforward, "brute-force" solution is to just use the first touch on a UI object as the hover.



http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2419-product-blog-update-basecamp-translationstemplates-notifire-highrise-twilio-etc


It works. But are there other, more elegant solutions? For instance, could the hardware ever be made to support actual finger hovering?



Answer



It would mean a very different technology than what is currently used. I wouldn't try to force touch devices into screen device semantics. Touch devices are developing their own distinct set of user expectations. Touch to hover is perfectly acceptable. I've seen some nice examples of hinting to the user where "hoverable" areas are when the screen first loads. Highlighting hot spots in some way, then letting those highlights fade out after a second or two.


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