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iPadOS

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211–220 of 337 posts

Re: iPadOS

#211

So much for the prevailing rumor that Apple was going to create fewer platforms by merging macOS with iOS.

Never trust rumours. Rumours are tinged with bias. Rather, prefer to trust the horse's mouth and its history. Apple has always said they wouldn't merge macOS and iOS, but they have a history of bringing iOS frameworks to macOS for consistency (AVFoundation was a big one). Rumours are the fodder of those who cannot be bothered to learn about something but want the air of clairvoyance to impress friends; they are the l…

Rumors are spread by those who test the waters, usually.

Re: iPadOS

#212

I am nervous this means Apple will hold back features from iOS to get people to buy an iPad. For example, they announced the new Files app with iPadOS but there is no reason that shouldn't all be available on an iPhone.

iPhone doesn’t have a screen large enough or a USB connector…how would you use the “new Files app”?

You'd use the new Files app the same way you'd use the current Files app … USB disks aren't the only way to use it.

Seriously, am I being gaslighted here? The Files app is already available on iOS 12, I think it was introduced in 11, and it's definitely on iPhones.

Everybody talking about it like a hypothetical iPad-only app is seriously confusing me.

Re: iPadOS

#213

I am nervous this means Apple will hold back features from iOS to get people to buy an iPad. For example, they announced the new Files app with iPadOS but there is no reason that shouldn't all be available on an iPhone.

iPhone is Apple's biggest product by a large margin and it's in a super competitive space. There's no way they'll hold back features that reasonably work on it.

Re: iPadOS

#214
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im always fascinated by program shortcuts almost no one knows about. How did you learn about long pressing in safari?

This is what always confuses me when people say "macOS/iOS is soooo intuitive!" - discoverability of features is well, horrible. You have to long/3d/long 3d press all manner of elements to discover, not to mention single/two/three finger swipes in differing directions, from screen, from edge.

Because these gestures are akin to keyboard shortcuts — they're not the only way to do achieve something, just a convenient shortcut. One could always request the desktop site via the Share sheet.

Re: iPadOS

#215
post #144
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's already available with a long press on the refresh icon, "request desktop site". Probably it'll let you request a mobile version now and requests the desktop site by default.

I hope it's more than this. A lot of sass websites have features inexplicably broken on the ipad pro, even though they display perfectly. And some google sites refuse to load. This is even if you request desktop. But go to icab mobile, set user agent to desktop, and the sites load and work perfectly.

Update: it is more than this. The preview mentions you can use google docs etc. You could not do that under the old "request desktop site"

https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-preview/

Re: iPadOS

#217
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never trust rumours. Rumours are tinged with bias. Rather, prefer to trust the horse's mouth and its history. Apple has always said they wouldn't merge macOS and iOS, but they have a history of bringing iOS frameworks to macOS for consistency (AVFoundation was a big one). Rumours are the fodder of those who cannot be bothered to learn about something but want the air of clairvoyance to impress friends; they are the l…

Rumors are spread by those who test the waters, usually.

Nah, then it wouldn't be a rumour, it'd be a leak. If you pay enough attention to the Apple ecosystem and horrendous tech journalism that describes it, you come to know the difference — rumours sound like Windows/Android-user wishlists that macOS/iOS become more like what they're used to, leaks sound like … well, like what Apple would do and does.

Re: iPadOS

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hoping for this. If you have little kids in your house you cannot safely use the iPad Mail client, for example

Settings->General->Accessibility->Guided access. This is pretty cool. It keeps them within the app I want them to be in. you can even set it up so that when they're watching a movie, you can disable taps so they can't exit the video accidentally.

It took my 3yo niece about a week to learn how to escape guided access. At that point it became more of a hassle then a help. It might be fine for toddlers but for any kids over 2 you need a fully sandboxed profile if you’re not handing them a dedicated tablet.

Re: iPadOS

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this. This bridges some gaps for sites that are built as either mobile-specific (but not truly responsive), or as desktop-only. I would have thought that the whole device detection, mobile-specific thing would have died many years ago, but it is stubbornly persistent. True responsive sites have worked fine for ages, and should continue to do so. On the desktop-only site side, it looks like Apple has also done so…

What is your criteria for a "true responsive site" and can you point to a good resource describing implementation details? Asking for a friend :)

Honestly, just using the basics of "responsive web design" (search phrase) is most of it. That is, implementing your site using CSS media queries to adapt your layout across multiple device sizes. Contrast that to using hacky device detection to deliver some entirely separate and "mobile-specific" site. One anti-pattern that often happens is the "mobile" detection is wrong, and delivers some phone-sized UI to a tablet. Instead just leverage CSS to make your site look good at the user's current display width, whatever that is, without having to know anything about the device. This is also great for desktop users, e.g. who might have your site in a browser side-by-side with something else, or similar.

All of the "evergreen" browsers have a mobile design view built into their dev tools these days. You can enable that, switch between specific device screen profiles, and continuously drag the "screen size" handles to watch your site's behavior at different sizes. This is great for development, since your web inspector view stays at full size.

Combining CSS media queries with CSS flexbox is a hugely powerful way customize the end-user experience for different devices. Flexbox not only makes basic layout adaptations straightforward (or free!), it lets you handle some otherwise tricky cases using tools like reordering support.

It's probably also worth searching for "mobile first web design" for further resources.

Re: iPadOS

#220
post #126
post #5

the multi-tasking/multi-window looks incredibly complicated, full of hidden gestures/commands that aren't really discoverable

The one multi-window functionality I need is the ability have the iPad in portrait mode and split the screen horizontally. That way I could have a book or movie on top and notes on the bottom. It seems that iPadOS still cannot do this very basic thing. It's frustrating beyond belief knowing that this device could be so much more useful with that tiny basic functionality that has existed in GUIs for decades. (And why…

Not to mention the inability to split the keyboard - on iPad sized devices, trying to thumb type without a split keyboard is a huge pain in the ass.
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