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Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

jenson.org

411–420 of 693 posts

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#411
post #395

No mention of "undo"? That's usually my biggest bug bear, no way to undo accidentally deleted/garbled edits. Oh and the fact that intended deletion of half a sentence via backspace often ends up deleting far more than intended.

Not sure about Android, but on iOS a three finger tap will bring up a contextual menu which allows undo and redo, among other actions.

I've been wondering what I'm supposed to do with my third thumb. /s

I just tried using this in a text screen. My first attempt was on the keyboard which added random characters and brought up the little thing at the top to undo, my second attempt was above the keyboard, but my most recent message was a link so I got taken to safari, and my third attempt in a small sliver of the message screen in the upper left worked.

Obviously if you're familiar with it, it's easier to do, but I rarely have three fingers available while I'm writing text on a phone.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#413

1000% agree with this post, wow. I can’t believe this is controversial.. it’s a disaster. I dread opening the mobile version of google docs, sheets, or even Notes for anything more than a grocery list. The problem is the target audience for this is business customers, and particularly those in management, so it’s a small market. ICs aren’t up and down as much between meetings and can largely stick to their desktop se…

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Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#414

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.

I think you can only 3D touch on other keys. If you have one of the newer iPhones without 3D touch you have to long press the spacebar.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#415

1000% agree with this post, wow. I can’t believe this is controversial.. it’s a disaster. I dread opening the mobile version of google docs, sheets, or even Notes for anything more than a grocery list. The problem is the target audience for this is business customers, and particularly those in management, so it’s a small market. ICs aren’t up and down as much between meetings and can largely stick to their desktop se…

> 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…

The more experience I get in the working world, the more I realize that the hardest problem is finding people that see there is a problem.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#416
post #413

1000% agree with this post, wow. I can’t believe this is controversial.. it’s a disaster. I dread opening the mobile version of google docs, sheets, or even Notes for anything more than a grocery list. The problem is the target audience for this is business customers, and particularly those in management, so it’s a small market. ICs aren’t up and down as much between meetings and can largely stick to their desktop se…

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Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#417
post #404

Very nice ideas, please please please someone pick this up! Doing anything on a mobile device is far more painful than people assume. A generation of people are now unfamiliar with using a PC and although it has its problems, the use cases are far easier. Are these really solved cases? - multiple tabs in a browser. Why not put tabs/shortcuts on the desktop (errr mobile top?) - apps in general, why do they exist at al…

>Why not put tabs/shortcuts on the desktop

You mean why tabs are part of the browser rather the system? Kinda like the suckless way and utilizing tabbed to provide tabs to any app?

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#418

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 miss my Blackberry for typing. The tactile feedback of real keys was so much better than haptic screens.

This. Ever since I lost the physical keyboard of the blackberry, I have had to accept to live with a significant and constant productivity hit when it comes to writing more than a couple of words on my touchscreen phones with the need to avoid typing errors. I failed to master the act of writing on a cellphone, contrary to typing on a physical keyboard.

I have seen people type blazingly fast on touchscreen phones though, albeit I didn't run error stats on their output. I accept that I may lack some skills needed to become better at this, but seeing others highlighting that this is a problem to them is not surprising to me, based on anecdotal evidence.

E.g., I knew someone who added to his email signature a permanent apology for typing errors giving the justification that he was typing on a touchscreen device.

All in all, I agree that the problem is real, and havging had experience with a working solution (physical keyboard) I wonder why there appears to be no business case today for such devices.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#419
> Android and iOS share a common problem: they copied desktop text editing conventions, but without a menu bar or mouse.

Vim is usable, with Hacker's Keyboard (Android keyboard app that gives a full on-screen keyboard) or a Bluetooth keyboard.

The Vim paradigm solves the problem of not having a mouse or menu bars, since it doesn't rely on them.

Re: Text editing on mobile: the invisible problem

#420
post #404

Very nice ideas, please please please someone pick this up! Doing anything on a mobile device is far more painful than people assume. A generation of people are now unfamiliar with using a PC and although it has its problems, the use cases are far easier. Are these really solved cases? - multiple tabs in a browser. Why not put tabs/shortcuts on the desktop (errr mobile top?) - apps in general, why do they exist at al…

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