Tag Archive for ‘Ryan Christoffel’

A good solution to the iPad’s multitasking problem from Ryan Christoffel. In short, he thinks the long-press contextual menus that appear on app icons should include options for split view and slide over. I think this is a great idea, but I’d still be concerned about discoverability.

I hesitate to advocate for an omnipresent menu that could be used for these type of system functions, but I’m not sure how else you could include advanced features like multitasking in any other way without always dealing with issues of discoverability. At least with a consistent button in the system status bar there would be something indicating that options are available.

➝ Source: macstories.net

Craig Hockenberry, referencing Ryan Christoffel’s recent piece on Twitterrific’s introduction of multi-window support and Twitter adding keyboard navigation to their app:

This review that covers a both a third-party and first-party Twitter app shows how important the former is.

Third parties are always first with platform features like multi-window on iPad. And we’ve had keyboard support for several years.

Third-party clients are the reason we have retweets, replies, mentions, blocking/muting, and more. Almost all of Twitter’s best features were first introduced and supported by developers outside of Twitter. The service would really benefit from a reintroduction of the APIs that allowed those apps to stand on equal footing with Twitter’s own client.

As a bit of an aside, I’m going to be giving Twitterrific another shot.

(Via Michael Tsai.)

➝ Source: macstories.net

Ryan Christoffel, writing for MacStories:

Just imagine it: Steve Jobs, on-stage at Apple’s big developer conference, telling a crowd of Mac developers that web apps were the way to go for iPhone. And not only the way, but a “very sweet way,” an “awesome way.” Don’t believe him? Just look at Google! They build pretty great stuff.

The reality distortion field may have tried its hardest, but there was no amount of Jobs enthusiasm that could have sold developers. During the entire presentation on web apps, the only applause given came as a faint courtesy when Scott Forstall entered and exited the stage to demo web apps’ functionality. Clearly there was no excitement in the room for this “very sweet solution.”

One of my biggest regrets was not being more involved at this stage of the iPhone’s life. I was still writing about it on my weblog — I bought the original iPhone on day one, after all. But I wish that I would have had the foresight to learn more about web development then, instead of waiting until just a few years ago to hone my skills.

Ryan Christoffel, writing for MacStories:

I made the iPad Pro my primary computer when it first launched in late 2015. The transition pains from Mac to iPad were minimal, and the device has grown even more capable since that time thanks to improvements in iOS. My need for a Mac is now extremely rare.

My desire for a Mac, however, still exists in a few specific use cases. There are things the Mac has to offer that I wish my iPad could replicate.

This is a great list of attainable features for the platform — there’s no reason Apple couldn’t address all of these within the next year or two. Of the items on his list, I think a more diverse hardware lineup is the most important thing for me. I would love to have an iOS device with a larger-than-13-inch display and a Microsoft Surface Studio-like hinge mechanism that’s designed to live on my desk.

But if I was to add one more feature to Ryan’s list, I think support for external storage devices is a must. The iPad and iPhone gained the Files app in iOS 11 and Apple already sells USB and SD card dongles. The next logical step is to make connected SD cards, USB hard drives, and thumb drives available within the Files app alongside iCloud Drive, DropBox, and the like.