Coincidentally, this Sunday Sergio Artime and a server criticized Microsoft’s apathy with gestures within touch screens in Windows 11. With Windows 8 some gestures were included but with the arrival of Windows 10 we had hardly any gestures. Now, with the new Build of the Windows Insider program, gestures are back. Build 22557 has arrived loaded with new features and this time we want to highlight everything related to touch use.
The return of touch gestures in Windows 11
The truth is that Microsoft has taken care of the gestures on the trackpads for a long time, but they had forgotten the gestures on a screen. In the end, the entire family of Surface devices (except the Laptop SE) has a touch screen. You can’t sell me the touchscreen if your system doesn’t invite gestures. Now with Windows 11 they seem to have abandoned their lethargy and already offer us something else.
How could it be otherwise, the first gesture allows us open or close the Start Menu with a natural and easy gesture. In this way we do not have to resort to fine-tuning the aim with our finger, any gesture from the taskbar upwards will open the start menu. To close it, just touch anywhere or pull down from the drop-down menu.
The second gesture allows us move from the menu with the applications pinned to the rest of the applications. A great help when we want to search within all the applications quickly and it makes it easier to move between the apps. It would be very useful to offer this gesture also in the trackpad gestures, it is silly but it is very useful.
The third gesture allows us access the shortcuts. From here we can configure, as we already do with our mobile or tablet, the main elements of our PC. All this with an intuitive and simple gesture that increases the possibilities of touch use for something so common.
Finally, they have also renewed the animation of notifications. Swiping left from the right edge of the screen will display the Notification Center. Along with the calendar and the new Focus function. This gesture already existed and has been maintained since Windows 8 but now the transition has been improved.
The smoothest screen rotation ever
We could not miss this opportunity to talk about the abruptness we had when turning a tablet. This was something as violent as the change to the light or dark theme. Now, taking up the work of Windows 10X and Surface Hub 2X we receive the expected smooth turn in Windows 11. Another element of transition to work better with equipment such as Surface Pro 8, Surface Pro X and Surface Go among others.
Slowly Windows 11 begins to lay the foundations of its design And it looks like the Windows Insider team is finally showing off a good chunk of their work. We’ll see if more surprises await us. Put to dream we would not mind seeing a new Device Manager according to the year 2022.