Have you noticed the nine hundred different share buttons on every article that news apps and websites have? Am i the only one who is put off by these icons? I am sure not. The Guardian is tackling this issue in the mobile apps very appropriately. Their solution is so simple and ingenious, it makes you think why this wasn’t being done by everyone else.
They have used the long press gesture that almost all mobile devices have these days to activate a share menu that appears as an overlay on top of headlines. All this can be done right from the home page, you don’t even have to read the whole article to share it. What’s more the pop-up menu also includes an option to play the article using the device’s text to speech service, which can be used if you prefer listening to articles insteading of reading, and once you’re done listening, you can long press again and share the article on your favourite social media.
The idea is an excellent use of the long press gesture and we wonder why more new apps are not doing this. Do you know any other apps that are using gestures like these in wonderful ways to make user experience more fluid and simple to use?