Microsoft Patent for Page Turn Animation? And If So, Do We Care?

From the NYTimes.com Bits Blog:

On Thursday a tidbit of news circulated around the Web that Microsoft had filed a patent in late 2009 hoping to lay claim to the look and feel of page turns on a touchscreen device.

The patent states that when “one or more pages are displayed on a touch display” a “virtual page turn curls a lifted portion of the page to progressively reveal a back side of the page while progressively revealing a front side of a subsequent page.” Just like real pages in a paper book.

Many bloggers speculated that if Microsoft is awarded the patent for page turns, Apple would have to remove, or license, the interface technique it currently uses in its iBooks application.

But the page turn doesn’t necessarily make sense in digital form and seems to be an unnecessary and archaic carryover from print.

Of course many might disagree with me on this: it is a topic of debate among fans of user interface design and digital books.

Jason Kottke, blogger and Web designer, had this to say about the iBooks page turn:

The page flipping animation in the iBooks app though? Super cheesy. It’s like in the early days of cars where they built them to look like horse-drawn carriages. Can’t we just scroll?

Craig Mod, a book designer, also noted earlier this year that the page turn is something of a relic: “The metaphor of flipping pages already feels boring and forced on the iPhone.” ...