Scott Jenson

As a UX person, this has been painfully obvious (and I've been yelling about it for years) iOS and Android have been designed to be a consumption focused, and productivity actions have been tacked on, rather poorly.

BTW, I'm NOT anti-mobile, my point is that mobile hasn't grown ENOUGH over the last few years. There are opportunities yet for both desktop and mobile to grow, but they are so entrenched, it's hard to change.
#UX #Desktop #ios
https://sixcolors.com/post/2023/08/why-i-gave-up-on-the-ipad-only-dream/

Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

Every time any of us packs a bag, we are making some very specific tech-focused decisions. It starts with what devices we need (or can live without) and cascades into charging bricks and cords and …

Six Colors
Sep 10, 2023 at 3:29pmWeb
Show threadScott JensonSep 10, 2023

As one example, I'm writing up my research at Google in how we could improve mobile text editing (which is a total hack on mobile devices)

I've been reluctant to post about it is it's likely the MOST boring UX topic in the world. But as I looked into it, it became fascinating as it's so core to power users feeling productive and is in such a sorry state.

Show threadCoryndon LuxmooreSep 10, 2023
@scottjenson I have met with poor entrepreneurs who have written entire business plans on mobile devices. Kids doing school work. This is important stuff
Show threadScott JensonSep 10, 2023
@luxmoore It's certainly possible, but it's painful. There are even people that can do it seemingly painlessly. But the majority don't share this ability. In my study of people editing text on iOS/Android, ALL of them demonstrated some frustration or coping mechanisms.
Show threadCoryndon LuxmooreSep 10, 2023
@scottjenson agree. The barrier is too high for those who have to choose phone or computer, mobile data or Internet broadband
Show threadClayton SlaughterSep 12, 2023

@scottjenson
When the feature to hold the space bar to move the text cursor came to my attention, the frustration of text editing was reduced.

One notable improvement for me on the iPad: with the keyboard folios most of the ⌘ shortcuts work.
… and then they put that @ #?! Pop up help screen when I hold the keys too long prompting me to doubt the operation actually completed (I find it does in practice, but the pop up makes me unsure).

Would love the insight of a UX pro like you.

Note: The article attached to this doesn’t appear to be authored by you and I was disappointed I’ll have to wait for your perspective. 🙃

Show threadScott JensonSep 12, 2023

@schmubba The space bar helps (but is undiscoverable for most) keyboard shortcuts help (bascially bringing in a desktop interaction style) These are all good things.

My broader point is that we just have to appreciate how subtle this problem is. Text input isn't really the issue (people can get plenty fast with today's mobile keyboards) it's really text manipulation (cursor placement, selection, and clipboard actions) that drive most of the user errors/frustrations.

Show threadClayton SlaughterSep 12, 2023

@scottjenson this subtlety feels like drag or friction in using the system, like the delay of forcing a mouse maneuver when dealing with text on the desktop (due to no keyboard shortcut).

The ⌘ A, ⌘ C, ⌘ Tab, ⌘ V has no counterpart in mobile.

Although the swipe up and over does a reasonable replacement for ⌘ Tab.

We’ve all been using this mobile kluge for so long, imagining alternatives sometimes feels curtailed to very minor tweaks rather than paradigm shifts.

Show threadScott JensonSep 12, 2023

@schmubba that's exactly right. I think of this as "the most boring critical problem in Mobile"

Due to the interest shown here, I'm actually writing up my work at Google and will post about it on my blog. I'm very slow though, it'll likely be at least a week before I'll finish it.

Show threadZarin LoosliSep 10, 2023
@scottjenson I'd love to hear about it!
Show threadMichael BartholomewSep 10, 2023
@scottjenson Boring or not, it is an important topic that impacts millions of people. Thanks for sharing.
Show threadJohn GordonSep 10, 2023
@scottjenson I was going to mention text editing. It was actually better in iOS 5 than today.
Show threadC SawulaSep 10, 2023
@scottjenson 100%. I used a netbook years and years ago that I turned in to a hackintosh as my note-taking machine in grad school. Even a severely compromised laptop experience is a step up from trying to manage the same tasks on iOS
Show threadJoseph KohlmannSep 10, 2023
@scottjenson It’s bad, and it’s the only credible explanation I can think of as to why iOS and iPadOS are so radically user-hostile, feature-poor, flimsy, and/or incomplete in certain critical domains