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Click: A generational marker

Martin Belam makes an interesting point when he writes The word “click” will become a generational marker.

He writes:

I’ve been working on a project designing for tablet devices, and I keep finding I have to correct myself, and say “touch” or “tap” when I’ve just uttered the word “click”.



Rather like grandparents fondly referring to the wireless, my generation are going to carry that word “click” in our vocabulary to describe interactions long after anybody last used a mouse.

I was thinking about this myself. Now that we have touch screens, how much longer will the mouse or touchpad be considered essential computing gear?

Personally I love touch on phones and tablets. Yet having to constantly lift my arm to touch the 36-inch screen on my desktop iMac would be an ergonomic disaster.

Touching and clicking

Belam may be wrong. The mouse, or at least the touchpad, which needs a click, could be around for many years to come.

After all, desktops and laptops still come with keyboards. It is rare for anyone to buy a Microsoft Surface tablet without a keyboard.

As an aside, I never considered the Windows, Icon, Mouse, Pointer interface intuitive – touch technology gets closer.

Speaking of generational markers… have you been around long enough to remember when people referred to the Windows, Icon, Mouse, Pointer interface as Wimp?

Thought not.