Which Way Is Up!?
Based on my time spent playing with the iPhone interface, I present to you my new term which represents a very serious condition facing geeks today.
Scroligo | skro-li-go |
noun
The vertigo-like sensation induced by switching back and forth between the inverted scrolling orientation on iPhone and the traditional on a MacBook trackpad.
Believe it or not, after limited exposure to the iPhone’s touch interface, and the act of flicking up in order to scroll down, I’ve found myself attempting to two-finger scroll upward on my trackpad in an effort to scroll my browser down the page. The odd part is that it seems so natural on the iPhone, even though it’s historically the non-traditional way of doing things. Apple’s own interface designs suddenly contradict themselves…
Which leads me to wonder if in Leopard - or a future OS update - we’ll gain the ability to invert the direction of our trackpad’s scrolling. Just because it’s always been this way (scroll down for down, and up for up) doesn’t mean it’s necessarily correct (or in-correct). Now that I think of it, I prefer the inverted controls when playing video games (Halo!) as well. I guess I’m just asking for the option to set my scrolling preferences as I like them.
#1 Matt Radel says:Ah…that’s why the scrolling on the iPhone felt awkward to me! I’m using the trackpad on my MBP quite regularly, so it makes total sense.
#2 LARick says:I’ve had the same sensation.
You can invert the scroll direction by using SideTrack from ragingmenace.com. I don’t use it for that, but it does many other things great things such as map trackpad corners to keystrokes such as right-click. This is an essential utility for me since my first Powerbook and now on my MacBook Pro.
#3 Nick Santilli says:LARick - Agreed, SideTrack is a fantastic utility. I haven’t used it since upgrading from my PowerBooks to my MacBook, as lots of good functionality is baked in (albeit, not nearly the power of sidetrack). but that’s good to know that it’s a feature now. May have to look back into that…
#4 Colin says:Not having an iPhone made it hard for me to picture what you guys were talking about. But after thinking about it in my head (and literally trying it on my trackpad) I think I agree: You should be allowed to customize it without a third party application.
#5 Frank says:Nick,
I had the exact same experience. It suddenly went away after a couple of weeks, I guess my body adjusted.
#6 Nick Santilli says:Colin - find a friend with an iPhone and bug him.
Like I do….
#7 Colin says:Haha Nick!
I’ve used it before, just don’t use one regularly. I intend on getting an iPod touch soon and from what I’ve heard the two are similar minus a few features.
#8 weisheng says:I get totally disorientated by the iPhone/touch scrolling. It’s not normal! Apple reverse it please!
#9 Mathew says:I found myself doing the exact same thing. I love the way the iPod touch / iPhone scrolling behaves as any physical media would, and it definitely seemed odd moving back to the trackpad and having to force myself to scroll in the opposite direction.
Great post.
#10 random8r says:Actually the UI isn’t inverted. In one instance (the mac laptops), the double-finger movement is to control the direction of the window scroll (akin to scrolling down the page by dragging the position indicator at the side of the page).
In the other instance, your fingers ARE the pointer, and the idea is you’re literally flicking the page.
One is made as an extension of an already-existing UI for computer users, the other is made a green-dream UI for non-computer-users.
It’s like the difference between a design decision made inside a city that has been planned from the ground up, versus a city that has naturally evolved over time.
#11 Bryan M. says:Great, you were the first result on google when I searched for an answer moments ago. While tracking about Logic Studio 8, i noticed scrolling around was giving me a giant headache. Same headache that I get when I leave the sun visor down when driving at night (and I don’t realize it). Using the iphone definatly requires an invert on all other touch interfaces. Anyways, good stuff. I’m gonna download this immidiatly.
-B
#12 random8r says:This post is really wrong. The reason the iPod touch and iPhone behave the way they do is that you’re actually DIRECTLY touching the screen.
So, if you were DIRECTLY touching a piece of paper, flicking up WOULD move the page up.
But, using the MBP double-touch is INDIRECT, so it’st the equivalent of using a scroll-wheel on a mouse.
The reason you get confused is that your idea of what each is doing is slightly incorrect. You simply need to modify that idea slighly, and you won’t have any problems any more.
Change it in your mind.