Subtitled, how to think about it correctly so it’s not completely awkward and annoying.
We are in a very strange place right now. A place where everything is turning into an application, and nothing is static or empty. We’re no longer completely disconnected from the things we use on the web, or the way we interact with devices. It’s a good place to be. But it comes with some downsides, especially in the area of old habits.
Perhaps one of the most recent demonstrations of this would be Apple’s natural scrolling which they just “introduced” with the release of OS X Lion. It’s getting a pretty bad rap, and a lot of people are complaining about it. Which I think is very strange, but I completely understand. We just aren’t thinking about it properly. While it was technically just introduced, we’ve been using it for years. On our iPhones, iPods, iPads, Android OS phones and tablets, and various other touch based hardware. Does it make more sense on a mobile device? Sure. But that’s only because we weren’t already in the habit of using a scroll wheel on our phones (I don’t want to hear about how your old Blackberry had a scroll ball on it).
So how do we break the habit and realize that we’re now finally using scrolling the correct way? Simple. Stop looking at the scroll bar. Apple got rid of them for a reason, and it wasn’t just to confuse you. If you think about how you use a scroll wheel for a minute, you’ll realize that when you roll the wheel down, the scroll bar goes down. Likewise if you roll the wheel up, the scroll bar goes up. Why doesn’t this actually make any sense? Well, when you roll the wheel down, the scrollbar goes down… but the content goes up. You’re interacting with the scrollbar, and nothing else. Nowadays we’re interacting with the content, which is how it should be. We don’t need to be interacting with scroll bars and weird little esoteric wheels in the middle of our stone age mice. We touch the content now, and the content reacts to that touch.
Once you stop looking at the scroll bar, it will begin to makes sense. You’re no longer touching a disconnected piece of hardware, you’re touching the content itself as it were the physical object. Thus, when you pull your fingers down, the content goes down. When you push your fingers up, the content goes up. Left, right, etc. I know that you’re still staring at that scroll bar right now going “no, no, wait a minute” but I promise. It makes sense.
If you still think I’m insane and Apple is just out to piss you off, then do this simple little affirming experiment:
1. Put a piece of paper on the desk
2. Put your index and middle finger on the peice of paper
3. Pull it towards you
Done.
Make sure you're reading the full article, and don’t forget to participate.
