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FiftyThree Gives Behind-The-Scenes Look at Developing Paper's Zoom Feature

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NewImageFiftyThree, the developer behind the popular sketching app Paper, has posted a lengthy article examining the new Zoom feature that was added to Paper earlier this month.

Zoom is one of those UI controls, like the color picker, that has grown so familiar as to become almost invisible. Designers drag and drop it out of a mental library of stock functionality, and the most pressing consideration is whether to use a magnifying glass or a +/- button for the icon.

"Pinch to zoom" reinvented zoom for touch devices, and Apple made the gesture ubiquitous by including it in iOS. "Pinch to zoom" is now probably the single most broadly understood multitouch gesture; it feels like something we’ve been doing all our lives, even though it entered the popular lexicon barely six years ago.


Paper seems to be a favorite of Apple as well, winning both iPad App of the Year and Apple Design Awards in 2012. Apple also featured the app prominently on its home page as part of its 50 billion app download contest.

Paper by FiftyThree is an iPad-only app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

172 months ago
53 has integrated this new zoom in a unique and well designed way.
I love this app :-)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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