Touch Gesture R E F E R E N C E G U I D E

By Craig Villamor, Dan Willis, and Luke Wroblewski
Last updated April 15, 2010

CO RE GE ST U R E S Basic gestures for most touch commands
Tap

Double tap

Drag

Flick

Briefly touch surface
with fingertip

Rapidly touch surface
twice with fingertip

Move fingertip oversurface without
losing contact

Quickly brush surface
with fingertip

Pinch

SpreadPress

Press and tap

Touch surface with
two fingers and bringthem closer together

Touch surface with
two fingers andmove them apart

Touch surface forextended periodof time

Press surface with
one finger and briefly
touch surface withsecond finger

Press and dragOR

Press surface with one finger andmove second finger over surface
without losing contact

RotateOROR

Touch surface with two fingers
and move them in a clockwise
or counterclockwise direction

Supporting materials for this guide can be found online at: http://www.lukew.com/touch/This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

touch gesture reference guide;

Major User Actions

Currently supported by touch gesture systems
BASIC ACTIONS

user action

gesturedescription

Change modepress

Touch surface for extended period of time

Opendouble tap

Rapidly touch surface twice with fingertip

Selecttap

Briefly touch surface with fingertip

OBJECT-RELATED ACTIONS

user action

gesturedescription
Press surface with one finger and movesecond finger over surface without
losing contact

AdjustORpress and dragMake circular motion with finger, thencross over selected object
12

lasso and cross
Touch first object while second finger
taps other objects, the move selected
objects by dragging first fingerBundle
12

press and tap, then dragSupporting materials for this guide can be found online:

http://www.lukew.com/touch/touch gesture reference guide=OBJECT-RELATED ACTIONS (continued)

user action

gesturedescription

Deletedrag(across item oroff-screen)

Move fingertip over surface without
losing contact

Duplicatetap(source anddestination)

Touch object, then touch elsewhereon surface

drag(and drop)Move fingertip over surface without
losing contact21Movemulti-finger
dragOROR

Move two to five fingertips oversurface without losing contact

ORflick

Quickly brush surface with fingertip

press and tap

With one finger on object, touch elsewhereon surface with second finger

RotaterotateOR

Supporting materials for this guide can be found online:

http://www.lukew.com/touch/ORtouch gesture reference guideu

OBJECT-RELATED ACTIONS (continued)

user action

gesturedescription

Scale down

Scale uppinch

Touch surface with two fingers andbring them closer together

squeeze

Touch surface with five fingers andbring them closer together

spreadTouch surface with two fingers andmove them apart

splay

Touch surface with five fingers andmove them apart

NAVIGATING ACTIONS

user action

gesturedescription

Adjust view(rotate)

rotateOR

Adjust view
(zoom out)

pinch

double tap

Supporting materials for this guide can be found online:

http://www.lukew.com/touch/

OR

Touch surface with two fingers andbring them closer together

Rapidly touch surface twice with fingertip

touch gesture reference guidei

NAVIGATING ACTIONS (continued)

user action

gesturedescription

Adjust view
(zoom in)

Display commands

Move through list

spreadTouch surface with two fingers andmove them apartdouble tap

Rapidly touch surface twice with fingertip

press

Touch surface for extended periodof timepress and tap

Press surface with one finger and briefly
touch surface with second finger

double tap

Rapidly touch surface twice with fingertip

corner tap

Touch specific corner of surface withfingertip

two-finger dragMove to previous/next item in list

rotateOR

Supporting materials for this guide can be found online:

http://www.lukew.com/touch/ORtouch gesture reference guideNAVIGATING ACTIONS (continued)

user action

gesturedescription

Pandrag handMove fingers and palm of one handover surface without losing contact

dragMove fingertip over scrollbar without
losing contact

Scrolltwo-finger dragTouch scrollbar for extended periodof timepress

Scroll (fast)

Scroll (fast)

Briefly touch surface with fingertip whena scroll is in progress

tap

Supporting materials for this guide can be found online:

http://www.lukew.com/touch/

Quickly brush surface with fingertip inthe direction you want to scroll

flickScrub

Move two fingers up or down acrosssurface

dragMove fingertip over scrollbar without
losing contact

8touch gesture reference guide

DRAWING ACTIONS

user action

gestureAccept

Draw a checkmark on surface with fingertip

Cut

Draw a slash on surface with fingertip

Get help

Draw a question mark on surface with fingertip

RejectDraw an “X” on surface with fingertip

Undo

Scratch out area on surface with fingertip

Supporting materials for this guide can be found online:

http://www.lukew.com/touch/9