the lab
note

Gesture set v2

Second draft of the gesture vocabulary for Margin, after the first prototype.

October 30, 2025 ↳ margin tools for thought

After the lessons in First prototype reads a paper end-to-end, here’s the next attempt at the gesture vocabulary:

  • Mark a passage. Long-press at the start, drag to the end, release. No menu. Marks are reversible by the same gesture (a second long-press on a marked region clears it).
  • Promote a mark to a note. Tap the marked passage and start typing. Inline editor appears at the cursor.
  • Anchor a free-floating note. Tap-and-hold in any blank area; an editor appears at that exact spot.
  • Navigate to backlinks. Two-finger swipe right on a marked passage. (This is the gesture I’m least sure about; might cut.)

Open: how to handle nested marks. The first prototype just disallowed them, which felt wrong about half the time.