Ask HN: Would you use more gestures if would be easier?

3 points by JoseVigil 11 years ago | 4 comments

At gesturekit.com we believe that gestures are part of the future of our interaction with computers however there is a lot to be done about them. We are currently doing but we need your feedback. Can help us improve our platform and continue solving problems providing solutions for the community.

We think that:

1) Gestures on apps (abstract glyphs sepcially) are cumbersome to develop. Read more http://bit.ly/ZTCwBb.

2) They should be cross platform so you don't have to code each time on each platform.

3) They should be web-based.

4) There are private APIs and few people/companies are deciding about their use.

5) Should be opened so everyone can create and share.

6) Should not interfere with your app at any extend.

Given these arguments:

Would you use gestures on your app if would be as simple as draw online and use everywhere?

At gesturekit.com we are taking care of these six points and want to provide a very simple way how to use them and implement them.

Thanks very much for the feedback, we appreciate. @gesturekit

B5geek 11 years ago |

I don't think I am your target audience, but I will respond just so you have at least one data-point.

I don't use gestures. Ever. For anything (except unlocking my phone, which I am stuck with).

Opera 'introduced' mouse-gestures a long time ago, and like all other attempts I have tried; I cannot understand the point. I don't think that waving my hand/mouse/fingers around like a spell-caster writing runes in the air is ever efficient. There is far too many chances at misinterpretation, and it obscures the target action. Give me buttons. on/off-yes/no simple binary choices that give exact feedback. Need something more analog (i.e. volume slider) let me input a number.

JoseVigil 11 years ago | |

Nothing will beat a button, ever. Gestures are not more important than buttons, components, application and developers. But will need a new space in this new world, the one of the already arrived future.

Not even gestures being used by all the crowd all together will replace a binary and perfect button. However the world is changing fast and the evolution of the interaction with our computers, crowded with wearable vehicles household touch interfaces, Internet of things and so on, will definitely need a new approach on gestures. That's the reason we are trying to start a nice discussion about with the developers.

Our API enhances the ongoing apps. We created a non transparent overlay to have all the app components available however provide the alternative of having gestures enabled with a single line of code on any platform, designed on an online editor. It should not harm however have the alternative of doing them, under different accessibility scenarios and different body movements and ergonomics.

As you pointed out air gestures can be yet experimental and will definitely need more work on the input side. We think that our fingers are key as I expose it here at this blog http://www.gesturekit.com/side-effects-minority-report/ and I envision them having more alternatives to efficiently tackle more problems needing a deeper use of them touching rather than airing.

B5geek 11 years ago | | |

Thank-you for your patient and well reasoned reply.

I wish you the best of luck with your project.