@bonetone I generally agree, but I do see a distinction here which you seem to not recognize. For me, "swipe-action" and "gesture" are really two separate things and should be treated differently. I'll try to explain:
Swipe action:
Part of "standard UI" - swipe action over given element does one specific thing (or one of given set of things) - like "clicking" or "taping" on a button, it just does what the button does.
as such it "comes" with the new installation and works right away
It's tied to the given element (button, bar...) and can be activated only from this element
Is simple (preferably just a single one direction swipe), so it is easy to execute and easy to find by trial-error learning approach
Gesture:
Part of personalized UI (or fully adjustable UI) - specific gesture can be assigned to anything what specific user prefers
as such it must be set up (or synced or learned, if you use "default") by the user before it can be used
Is executable "anywhere" (...with reasonable limitations, like "anywhere over the page space, outside of other control elements")
might be as complex as user wishes it to be in both number of moves and their directions
I really believe these two things should be treated separately, since they fill a different function and (some, many?) users will treat them differently. Both of these are useful, though, it's just they fill a different purpose.
Regarding swipe-actions: I do think that using swipe-actions everywhere is a good idea, because it allows to get more options from less UI elements, keeping the app simple and streamlined. Their usage is tight to the UI itself, though.
For example I would much appreciate to have just one "GENERAL TABS" button in the center of the bottom bar. This buttom could have following functions:
TAP: shows tab overview
swipe-UP: shows speed dials
swipe-RIGHT (=from center of bottom bar, to right) - goes to next tab
swipe-LEFT (=...) - goes to the previous tab
then:
swiping from left side of the bottom bar (left from TABS button) to right = forward
swiping from right side of the bottom bar to left = backwards
...this way you can have way less buttons in the bottom bar with way more actions which can be triggered from this bar. But it is closely tight to how the bottom bar is being organized.
(Of course it would be great to have the option to personalize ALL of this, but... I'd suggest to stay down on the ground π )