Windows® Phone 8 Unleashed

Providing Touch Feedback with the TiltEffect

In an environment whose primary input method is touch, providing feedback when a user interacts with UI elements helps to engage the user and improves the perceived responsiveness of the UI. On the desktop, a pointer indicates the location of the mouse, and hover events are used to provide different states for interactive controls. On the phone, however, there is no mouse, and no way of knowing when a user’s finger is above an element if screen contact is not made. The TiltEffect component provides feedback to the user when she taps and holds an element. It is simple to set up and has out-of-the-box support for many of the built-in controls (see Figure 9.21).

FIGURE 9.21 With the tilt effect enabled, ...