{"id":38377,"date":"2023-02-03T16:56:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T21:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=38377"},"modified":"2023-02-21T14:50:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T19:50:46","slug":"touchability-productivity-and-portability-pick-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/03\/touchability-productivity-and-portability-pick-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Touchability, Productivity, and Portability — Pick Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federico Viticci<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

In simpler terms: what happens if you prefer the Apple ecosystem for UI and UX but you’re feeling hamstrung by it at the same time?<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The problem is that an iPad, at least for people like me, isn’t supposed to be a companion to work that happens somewhere else. It is the work<\/strong>. And ultimately, I think it’s fair to demand efficiency from a machine that is supposed to make you productive. I feel this every time Stage Manager doesn’t let me place windows where I want on an external display; every time I can’t place more than four windows in a workspace; every time I can’t record podcasts like I can on a Mac; every time a website doesn’t work quite right like it does on a desktop; I feel it, over a decade into the iPad’s existence, when developers like Rogue Amoeba<\/a> or Raycast<\/a> can’t bring their software to iPadOS.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Maybe this has been true for a while and Stage Manager was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. You can’t separate art from the technology, but, at the end of the day, there’s also work to be done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Jack Wellborn<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

It’s foolishly optimistic to think that Microsoft or even Apple can make pointer interfaces as touch friendly as iPadOS without also destroying the very thing that makes them more productive than iPadOS — information density. Smaller controls means these platforms can disclose more information and interactivity to their users at once. That’s why a bunch of windows on even a 11″ MacBook Air feels natural while only four windows on a “large” 13″ iPad feels ungainly.<\/p>\n

Conversely, it’s impossible to make iPadOS more information dense without sacrificing the very thing that makes it the best tablet OS — touch friendliness. iPad users want more information on screen because that will help them be more productive, but the only way to present more information in iPadOS without sacrificing touch friendliness is a larger display. Not only is a larger display not portable, iPadOS’s support for larger displays still sucks. There’s nothing Apple can do about large displays not being portable, but better support for larger displays? That’s a problem Apple can solve.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n