Mouseover?

[FrankMurphy]

Has anyone figured out a reliable way to simulate a mouseover in Windows 8 using a touch gesture (i.e., without having to use the pen)? I'm on my third Surface (Surface Pro -> Surface Pro 2 -> Surface 3) and I've loved them all, but I'm a bit bewildered that Microsoft hasn't bothered to include a mouseover touch gesture, especially since so many web UI elements use mouseover events (e.g., expanding menus, etc).

 

[luv2skipow]

Not exactly sure if this is what you are looking for
http://www.lovesummertrue.com/touchmousepointer/en-us/

 

[kundas1]

umm excuse me but it isn't the SP2-3 or MS fault, it is the web site builders that have no imagination or clue how to build a proper web site for tablets or touch interfaces...

 

[mogulman]

For some websites with pull-down menus, I've found that if I hold my finger on the pull down menu, it creates a context(right click) menu using IE Metro. Then if I cancel out of this menu, then I can select from the pull down.

Not the same thing though. It is kind of weird that there isn't a touch gesture for this stuff.

 

[hughlle]

As above, on the rare occasion i need to do mouse over (e.g this forums code hides the page count for me on the "new posts" list, until i hover over) so i just do as above. Normally works.

You sy this is the fault of MS, yet i have no such functionality on my android devices, those are just click or right click, no mouse over. I'd be inclined to agree with @kundas1 It doesn't seem all that different from blaming MS for developers not coding to account for high DPI displays.

 

[FrankMurphy]

Not exactly sure if this is what you are looking for
http://www.lovesummertrue.com/touchmousepointer/en-us/

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Thank you.

umm excuse me but it isn't the SP2-3 or MS fault, it is the web site builders that have no imagination or clue how to build a proper web site for tablets or touch interfaces...

Given how widespread the use of mouseover events in web design was before Windows 8 hit the market, I think the onus is on Microsoft to adjust to the landscape rather than expecting the landscape to adjust to Microsoft.

You sy this is the fault of MS, yet i have no such functionality on my android devices, those are just click or right click, no mouse over. I'd be inclined to agree with @kundas1 It doesn't seem all that different from blaming MS for developers not coding to account for high DPI displays.

The difference is that Android (and iOS) is a mobile operating system. When you access a website from an Android browser, the web server detects from the user agent that you're using a mobile device and usually loads a mobile version of the webpage that doesn't include any mouseover events. Windows 8.1 is not a dedicated mobile OS and web servers don't recognize it as such, so they load the "full" version of a webpage when it's accessed from a Windows device. It's a pain in the @$$ to have to reach for the pen or flip the type cover around when you're using your Surface in tablet mode and you need to access a UI element that only becomes visible by triggering a mouseover event.

I agree that the lack of similar functionality in Android and iOS is also problematic (which is related to the fact that having a "full" version of a website for desktops/laptops and a limited version for tablets/smartphones is an outdated but stubbornly prevalent concept). Personally, I think the mouseover event should be phased out and that the W3C should discourage its use in web design. However, while it continues to be widely used, the lack of any functionality for simulating a mouseover using a touchscreen is a bigger problem in Windows because Windows is intended to be a desktop/laptop OS, and web developers assume that desktops and laptops can properly trigger a mouseover event.