Ubuntu Wiki

This page defines the common (and perhaps special) terminology used in the gesture development community.

Glossary

Gesture Primitives

drag

a user makes contact with the touch surface, and than moves continuously in a direction; contact is maintained with the touch surface until the end of the gesture

pinch/spread

a user makes two or more distinct contacts with the touch surface and separates them or brings them together, respectively

flick

a user makes contact with the touch surface, and then moves in a particular direction, losing contact with the surface in the process; unlike a drag, contact is broken after the movement

hold

a user makes contact with the touch surface and then maintains that contact point; no movement is associated with this gesture

rotate

a user makes two or more distinct contacts with the touch surface and pivots about an arbitrary point (with one hand, this is the wrist)

tap

a user makes a brief contact with the touch surface and then breaks contact; no movement is associated with this gesture

Complex Gestures

compositional analysis

breaking down a complex gesture (e.g., simultaneous gestures, gesture chains, parallel gestures) into individual components; the components can be present at a single point in time or over a given time span

gesture result preview

A hint (preview) of what will happen if a user finalizes a particular gesture.

gesture chains

a successive set of distinct gestures; this is often combined with simultaneous gestures (e.g., a tap and then a drag)

parallel gestures

two or more hands making separate, independent gestures providing in respective, independent results

gesture result range

a gesture that, through a range of motion, effects a naturally ordered range of results. For example a zoom gesture in a file manager could change the view along a continuum of file display options starting with a simple list view and ending with large thumbnails.

simultaneous gestures

two distinct gestures performed at the same time with one hand (e.g., performing an expand gesture while dragging across a screen)