Design of Everyday Things - Natural Scrolling Mapping
I remapped my scroll mode on my computers from “Natural” to… “Unnatural” (?) and these are some of my thoughts on it.
At first, the new mapping frustrated me. I did one action expecting the opposite reaction.
| finger movement | content movement | |
|---|---|---|
| Natural | downward | upward |
| Natural | upward | downard |
| Unnatural | downward | downward |
| Unnatural | upward | upward |
Why does “natural” map this way? Why doesn’t “unnatural” seem to be the natural method here?
When I use a smart phone, none of them that have a touch screen have such a setting for “scroll”, no matter the maker. Why is there a setting for the computer’s trackpad? Which mapping does a Phone map to? Natural or Unnatural?
On a phone, this is the mapping:
| finger movement | content movement | |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | downward | upward |
| Phone | upward | downard |
Comparing this, the Phone maps directly to the “natural” mapping! Could this be why “natural” is this? It maps naturally to a phone?
🤔