Spotted: Swipe vs. scroll - web page switching on mobile browsers

On mobile devices, swiping between web pages beats tabs. I wonder what the wider implications are?

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// published on Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems-Latest Proceeding Volume // visit site
Swipe vs. scroll: web page switching on mobile browsers
Andrew Warr, Ed H. Chi

Tabbed web browsing interfaces enable users to multi-task and easily switch between open web pages. However, tabbed browsing is difficult for mobile web browsers due to the limited screen space and the reduced precision of touch. We present an experiment comparing Safari's pages-based switching interface using horizontal swiping gestures with the stacked cards-based switching interface using vertical scrolling gestures, introduced by Chrome. The results of our experiment show that cards-based switching interface allows for faster switching and is less frustrating, with no significant effect on error rates. We generalize these findings, and provide design implications for mobile information spaces.