Now a lot of people have a lot of opinions as to how this works but none of them really matter right now. You see a web interface is not a touch interface and is certainly not a multi-touch interface. Yes, there are certain insights we can gleen from the usability experts and information architects that have come before but the experience users get from a multi-touch interface is largely right now undefined, unrefined and untested. It's not a technology accessible to joe common user (and likely won't be for another year or so) so that means opinions have yet to be formed on how it should be used.
I'm all for showmanship - the pretty lights and shiny baubles of current touch interfaces are revolutionary but will eventually grow to be "old hat." Eventually people will focus away from the fact that we can interface (light shows) with a computer this way and begin to focus on how we do it.
The key to this is to get into the head of the common person. What are they using your program for? What do they expect? What can they learn? What will amaze them? What will turn them off to the experience and never come back? What's boring? Those are the questions that will drive people to your applications. These subjects (which I hope to cover in time) are:
- Typography - How font affects the user
- Gestures - Why defining gestures to make sense is important
- Layout - How to build layouts that people can understand
- Color - How color affects the user
- Transition - The importance of transitions
- Information Access Channels - How people look for and access information
- Design Stories - Stories are told to be linked in to your life - it's called critical thinking. Somtimes stories of design from other fields can inspire you in yours. It's not about solid information it's about critical thinking.
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