Swipe gestures for touch screen keyboards

A method, comprising:

• at a computer system having a processor operatively coupled to a memory and a touch interface, the touch interface comprising a virtual keyboard area in which taps of a touch object generate text input:
• detecting a swipe gesture across a plurality of keys on the virtual keyboard while the virtual keyboard is displayed, the swipe gesture including an initial touchdown point and a direction;
• determining the direction of the swipe gesture;
• and
• performing a predetermined function determined by the direction of the swipe gesture without regard to the initial touchdown point of the swipe gesture on the displayed virtual keyboard, wherein:
• a rightward swipe gesture invokes at least one of a space, an auto-completion, or display of an auto-completion menu without regard to an initial touchdown point of the rightward swipe gesture on the displayed virtual keyboard;
• a leftward swipe gesture invokes at least one of a character deletion, a word deletion, or a line deletion without regard to an initial touchdown point of the leftward swipe gesture on the displayed virtual keyboard;
• a downward swipe gesture invokes at least one of a carriage return, a new line, inserting punctuation, or an alternate keyboard without regard to an initial touchdown point of the downward swipe gesture on the displayed virtual keyboard;
• and
• an upward swipe gesture invokes at least one of a shift, a caps lock, or an alternate keyboard without regard to an initial touchdown point of the upward swipe gesture on the displayed virtual keyboard.