Day 185

Zoom gestures on iOS

19 Nov 2022

Zoom lets the user magnify the screen if the user needs to zoom in a region to be able to see any details a bit closer. It is useful to know the gestures that let you zoom in, back out, move around the screen, adjust zoom level or show its menu.

You can find the Zoom settings in the Accessibility Settings. When enabled, double-tap with three fingers to zoom in and double-tap with three fingers again to zoom back out. Use three fingers to move around. Double-tap with three fingers and drag up/down to adjust the zoom level. And triple-tap with three fingers to show a menu to adjust a few Zoom settings like: Zoom In, Choose Region, Choose Filter, Show Controller and Adjust Zoom Level.

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You may also find interesting...

I used to think of Zoom as an accessibility feature that didn't need support from developers. But actually, testing with Zoom might unveil some issues and bad practices. Watch out for buttons that change something far away on the screen. Using a snackbar is usually not a good idea. Especially if it lets you do/undo something. Because they're ephemeral, they're difficult to spot and/or reach with Zoom, VoiceOver, Switch, Keyboard... Confirming a destructive action with a dialog might be better.

Let's quickly remember a few of VoiceOver's most important gestures that will let you do some of the most basic actions including selection, interacting, navigating, and scrolling. And Apple has a great video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDm7GiKra28&feature=youtu.be

You can check if VoiceOver is running but you can also get a notification to act in case that changes, while the user is using your app. As seen before, you rarely want to do significant changes in the experience when VoiceOver is on. But this use-case presented by @djembe from @NetflixEng at @appbuilders_ch is an excellent example of inclusive design. When VoiceOver is on, they bump the Audio Described "genre" to the top of the list. Brilliant! https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=981&v=N_QjBc_Zuts&feature=youtu.be These series of tweets tend to be fairly technical but as John says, a big part of creating great accessible user experiences is about "being kind", about caring about your users and customers to come up with great features like this one.


Content © Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats on Accessibility up to 11! is licensed under CC BY 4.0. License details