Reply To: Conditional CSS for touch screen devices?

[pears22]

“Touchscreens (currently) can’t convey hover states, so it’d be nice to adjust our UI for touchscreens so that they can still get around. Of course a keyboard can’t hover either. It’s probably just best to avoid relying on hover states in the first place – use them for embellishments.”

I couldn’t disagree more.

The desired user experience should dictate the technology, not the other way around.

Touch, mouse, keyboard, voice, holograms, whatever the interface may be, if you design your app to work with only the common denominator between the interfaces in mind, some great things would have to be sacrificed. It’s a fine way to start, but it shouldn’t end there.

As a user, there are some details that I don’t care to see until my attention is turned towards them. Relying on :hover is perfect for keeping these from cluttering the page until they actually matter.