undefined | Better HN

0 pointsSpare_account5y ago0 comments

I've often thought that on a touch screen device the OS should ignore touches on buttons/popups that have been on screen for less time than a human could reasonably have observed it and chosen to interact with it. If I touch the screen 0.05 seconds after a button appears, I was probably _not_ aiming for that button.

In fact, now I think about it, this has happened many times over the years with traditional mouse drive interfaces too.

I'm sure some power users would like to shorten the 'reaction time delay' or even remove it entirely so I guess that should be an option as well.

0 comments

XorNot5y ago

Honestly with mouse driven interfaces the rule should be that whatever is popping up on screen absolutely cannot put an interactable control under the current mouse cursor location, and no control should have control focus by default.

There's nothing quite like watching a dialog box go flying by because you hit enter at the exact moment it popped up. What was it? What did it do? We'll never know!

therealcamino5y ago

My "favorite" instance of that, many years ago, was when the dialog turned out to have said, "Reboot the computer immediately because IT has installed new software." I filed a ticket on that one.

folmar5y ago

As a "power user" I totally disdain the idea. I know what will appear in programs I use often and touch without waiting for the button to be drawn.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse