Gestures for selecting text

#This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120 of International Application No. PCT/CN2011/075243 having an International Filing Date of Jun. 3, 2011.

#This document generally relates to user interfaces.

#Computing devices can display text and allow users to select portions of the displayed text. For example, a user may use a mouse or a keyboard to highlight a portion of text that is displayed as part of a word processing document or as part of a web page. Once the text has been highlighted, the user may perform an action with the text, for example, by providing a keyboard shortcut or selecting a graphical menu item with a mouse. Example actions include copying and pasting the text, and changing a font style of the selected text.

#FIG. 1 illustrates a technique for selecting text with a long press by a first finger and a touch by a second finger.

#FIG. 2 illustrates a technique for selecting text with a press by two separated fingers.

#FIG. 3 illustrates a technique for selecting text with a multi-touch swipe gesture.

#Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

#This document generally describes techniques for selecting text and recognizing that displayed text has been selected. In some techniques, a user may select text that is displayed on a touchscreen of a computing device by swiping one or more of the user's fingers across the text that the user wishes to select. The text that is selected may include text that is included between a beginning location of the swipe gesture and an ending location of the swipe gesture. For text to be selected, the user may need to contact the touchscreen with multiple fingers. For example, text may be selected if the user swipes two adjacent fingers simultaneously across the screen, but not if the user swipes one finger across the screen, swipes two fingers that are not adjacent, or does not swipe two fingers simultaneously.

#In some examples, text is only selected if the user swipes for a predetermined distance after beginning contact with the touchscreen. After the user begins a swipe gesture, the touchscreen may display a visual indication of a location of the predetermined distance. Terminating the swipe gesture before the user contacts the visual indication may cause text to not be selected, while terminating the swipe after the user contacts or passes the visual indication may cause selection of the text traversed by the swipe gesture.