List scrolling in response to moving contact over list of index symbols

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining movement of a point of contact by a user over an index displayed on a touch-sensitive display; the displayed index having a sequence of index items; and

scrolling through a list of information items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement, the list of information items including a sequence of information item subsets corresponding to the sequence of index items;

wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through a respective information item subset if the point of contact moves over a corresponding respective index item.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the scrolling has an associated scrolling speed based on a speed of movement of the point of contact over the respective index item and a number of items in the information item subset corresponding to the respective index item.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through all items in a plurality of the information item subsets in response to the point of contact moving over the corresponding index items in the displayed index.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the index includes an alphabetical index, and the list of information items includes an alphabetically ordered list of information items.

5 . The method of claim 1 , including detecting that the point of contact corresponds to the respective index item in the index; and

responsive to detecting that the point of contact corresponds to the respective index item in the index, scrolling the list of information items to a corresponding subset of the list of information items.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying respective index symbols adjacent to corresponding subsets of the list of information items while scrolling through the list of information items.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a point of contact with the touch-sensitive display corresponding to user selection of a respective information item in the list of information items, and displaying on the touch-sensitive display information corresponding to the respective information item in response to the detecting.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the scrolling is in accordance with a simulation of an equation of motion having friction.

9 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining a movement of a point of contact by a user on an index bar in a touch-sensitive display; and

scrolling through a list of items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement;

wherein the index bar corresponds to an ordered index of item subsets in the list of items and the scrolling speed is based on a number of entries in a respective subset and a speed of movement of the point of contact.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the list of items is an alphabetically ordered listing of items that include contact information.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the scrolling is in accordance with a simulation of an equation of motion having friction.

12 . A portable electronic device, comprising:

a touch-sensitive display;

one or more processors;

a memory; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the program including:

instructions for determining movement of a point of contact by a user over an index displayed on a touch-sensitive display; the displayed index having a sequence of index items; and

instructions for scrolling through a list of information items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement, the list of information items including a sequence of information item subsets corresponding to the sequence of index items;

wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through a respective information item subset if the point of contact moves over a corresponding respective index item.

13 . A portable electronic device, comprising:

touch-sensitive means;

processor means;

memory means; and

a program mechanism, wherein the program mechanism is stored in the memory means and configured to be executed by the processor means, the program mechanism including:

instructions for determining movement of a point of contact by a user over an index displayed on a touch-sensitive display; the displayed index having a sequence of index items; and

instructions for scrolling through a list of information items on the touch-sensitive display in response to the movement, the list of information items including a sequence of information item subsets corresponding to the sequence of index items;

wherein the scrolling includes scrolling through a respective information item subset if the point of contact moves over a corresponding respective index item.