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Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

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Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#361

Post by Aerbil313 »

failuser wrote: post #125
lachlan_gray wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On an iPhone if you hold the space bar down the whole keyboard becomes a kind of trackpad which you can use to move the cursor. Since all the keys disappear, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to add something that works like mouse buttons so you could select text or paste in a specific spot in that “mode”. Right now it’s so frustrating to do any kind of selecting.

You can use that for selection as well, tap somewhere else on the keyboard. Used to be even better with 3D Touch, you did not have to wait for the long press to register.

Thanks. I don’t know how much RSI I’d be saved from if I knew this years ago. Apple, if you’re listening, you should advertise this better. Ok, maybe not for the new iPhone user, but maybe for a user in his 2nd year or one which does a lot of text input.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#363

Post by c-hendricks »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #357
_Microft wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the finger starts close to the bottom edge of the screen, I always struggle with moving the cursor downwards. Is there a trick for that?

You can hold down on every key, not just the space bar.

Except for keys that have alternate accent keys, and I don't think it's possible at all on the other keys when you have swipe typing available.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#364

Post by chunk_waffle »

superkuh wrote: post #49

Nothing on mobile is okay. I know everyone loves their smart phones but they really are terrible computers in every way except for portability. Use a computer when you actually want to do things. Smartphones are just for when you're literally unable to use a real computer.

My "phone" is really just a camera+GPS that my wife sometimes calls me on when she can't find me in a store. I dread typing on it, hell I dread _talking_ on it even.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#365

Post by rkagerer »

Positioning the cursor on Android is a complete disaster. I remember it not being a great experience on iOS, and being shocked when I moved to Android and found out it could be even worse. But I'm even more surprised that in all these years it hasn't been fixed. I hope this matter gains some visibility and traction.

In the meantime if anyone knows a good "Graffiti" app keyboard for me to try out feel free to recommend.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#366

Post by LegitShady »

CalRobert wrote: post #348
JamesLeonis wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s just not your typical consumer. My only disagreement. I think many people don't know they want something better because they've never used something better. The video in the link describes how the users do short texts to get around the problem [0], including deleting whole blocks of text instead of editing. Teenagers, parents, and many others communicate heavily through texts and are often "up and down" like m…

I desperately miss my HTC touch Pro two and its slider keyboard. It was a dream.

I want a modern touch pro from Google - slider keyboard, no bloatware or Samsung apps, nice big battery and modern screen, one nice camera, proper landscape support all over, and 5 years of updates.

I don't need 15 cameras or ai anything. Heck make it a battery + keyboard case that goes on to a pixel and does a decent typing job and I'd buy it.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#367

Post by codeptualize »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #197
codeptualize wrote: post #194

Why does this not mention long press on the spacebar on ios? It largely solves this problem. Long press on spacebar, keep it down and move around to move the cursor. While dragging tap with a second finger to start selection mode.

Problem is that that feature is not very discoverable. But I agree. The author seems very Android focused because most issues don’t really exist for iOS users once you know how it works.

Very true, I think that might be on purpose (it's an interesting topic https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ui-accelerators/).

Do agree that this one is too hard to discover, Apple doesn't really highlight it at all, while it's so incredibly useful.

Luckily there are all the engagement farmers with their ios tips and tricks, maybe that is the official Apple strategy haha, and to be fair it kinda works as people do find out that way.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#368

Post by karaterobot »

This reminds me of a really cool talk about cursors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76b3c_ssyPQ&t=181s

It's a long video but the segment I mean is only a few minutes, and it's really fascinating if you're interested in people having to work out surprisingly hard, invisible problems.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#370

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

I can buy into the fact that text editing on phones is a pain, but the solutions presented in the video seemed very unconvincing for me. The "only magnify in place" option is obviously a horrible idea. I don't know about you but my thumb is not transparent. The whole reason for moving the magnified piece off to the side is so that you can actually see it. The problem isn't as evident in the video because there is no finger in the way, but I just was imagining this behavior on the comment I'm currently typing, and there is no way I'd be able to see the magnified content if it worked like the proposed solution in the video.
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