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iostap

A micro library for “native” feeling tap events in the browser.

How to use it

Download the source files from the build directory, or use Bower.

$ bower install iostap

Then you’re good to go. You can listen for “iostap” events on any old element. For example:

$("a.link").on("iostap", function(e) {
  console.log(e.currentTarget);
})

Tell me more

iostap is a plugin designed to mimic the behaviour of tapping a button in the iOS ecosystem with a great degree of precision, affording developers who build hybrid web apps a greater user experience for their users. iostap is a super-lightweight library, weighing in at about 1kb, and doesn’t add unecessary overhead client-side.

Under the hood, there is more going on than you might think.

The library aims to acheive several goals in imitating the native iOS tap:

  • Tapping on an element and releasing near that element triggers an “iostap” event.
  • Moving a significant distance away from the original element with your finger cancels the event, unless your finger returns to the element without leaving the surface of the touch device.
  • When an element is active, the element (and all of its parent elements), are given an __active class, so that you can control their appearance with CSS. For example: a.button.__active {...}.
  • If you start a tap on an element, but it or its parents begin to scroll, the tap event is cancelled.
  • The “iostap” event is triggered regardless of whether the device is touch-enabled or not, so you can use it in any environment without extra configuration.
  • The library reverts to click events if window.getComputedStyle is unavailable, making it compatible with IE 8.

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