Pinch to zoom

A multi-touch gesture for changing scale: bring two fingers together to zoom out, spread them apart to zoom in.

Also called: pinch, pinch to zoom, pinch zoom, pinch gesture, two-finger zoom, two finger zoom, spread fingers, spread your fingers, zoom with fingers, zoom a photo with fingers, zoom gesture, double tap

What it is for

The standard way to navigate maps and take a close look at media on touch screens. It replaces “+” and “−” zoom buttons. On a computer, a trackpad can imitate the same gesture.

Where you see it

• Maps — zooming in and out
• Image galleries — zooming into photos
• E-commerce — closely inspecting high-resolution product images

What it is called in code

• pinch to zoom
• touch-action
• pointer events

See also

• Infinite canvas — The working area of a whiteboard, with no edges. You can move it in any direction, zoom in and zoom out.
• Lightbox gallery — A way of viewing images where clicking a thumbnail opens it in an overlay on top of the page.
• Carousel (slider) — A block that lets you flip through a set of images or cards by scrolling sideways.