How would you like SELECTION/COPY/PASTE to work?

[dgarciarivera]

my idea.

Double tapping and holding should bring up a selection loupe. you can either tap to select a block of text, drag to select more precisely, or push the select all button at the bottom of the screen. If keyboard is active, it minimizes to a button at the bottom of the screen. to deselect, simply tap anywhere in the editing space.
There will also be a copy gesture of dragging the text to the clipboard- an image of an actual clipboard that descends from the bottom of the screen that you can drag text or pictures to. Possibly movies playing previews in fmv They'd be represented by small 'clips' that magnify when you touch them (so you can see what's on them,) and shrink when you let go or drag away. To cut, you use two fingers instead of one when you drag.
Paste is accomplished by bringing up the clipboard with a three fingered tap and simply dragging whatever you want wherever you want it. A loupe will appear and define an insertion point for you.

At least that's how it ought to work. Simple and elegant. Like the iPhone/touch interface overall.

 

[Soundburst]

I think 2 bubbles should appear on screen. Using your two thumbs for "start" and "finish" to highlight the text , and move over the highlighted letters to make sure only the text you want is selected. Then when your thumbs are lifted a menu pops up asking what you want to do.

 

[dadou001]

Why not use more than one finger ?

Hi,

I thought of a solution that may work, without any popup or selection of options, using two finger but not together.

Copy : tap and hold until the magnifiying glass appears. When at the right place and keeping the index finger down, tap with another available finger, depending on the position of your index finger, so the thumb if your index finger is on the right of the screen (and if you are right handed), the middle finger if the index finger is on the left. The keyboard may disappear tempoarily if necessary to help the move.
This second finger tap would set the beginning of the selection. Now move the index to the location of the end of the selection and second-tap again.
Selected ! and maybe copied.

Cut : the keyboard comes back when you lift your fingers, just hit the back key.

Paste : Select the position of the paste and double tap with the second available finger while holding the index finger down on the text.

Sounds complicated ? I don't think so. try it, it works for me.

Cheers

 

[gjosho]

oops!

Sorry guys! Didn't see this thread and started another Re: Magnify glass freezing...

I have noticed that if you second tap the magnifier it will freeze and stay visible when you take your finger off!

Try it now...and then consider the following:

So, here it goes...

Double tap and hold with your index finger to bring up the magnifier, locate your start point then second tap the magnifier with another finger (easy if you tap at its edge/rim - like you did to freeze it) it turns blue and highlights text as you move it about until you find the end point. Now use second finger to once again to tap the edge/rim of the magnifier and inside it up pops the options Copy/Cut/Cancel, single tap to select.

If you had already copied something then second tapping the magnifier edge/rim would give options Paste/Cancel at the cursor point.

This seems very intuitive to me.

 

[goresc]

my 2 cents

While it has to be simple, it also has to be self-teaching (another apple mantra, at least from the old days) which many gestures are not (and coordination for some folks is tricky). Also, the magnifier doesn't appear on non-editable text that you'd want to copy, so that's a problem.

Here's my simplified idea, based on assuming most text you would need to copy/paste is word-oriented, which is conveniently about finger-size:

1. Double tap and hold on the word (need to hold to avoid web-zoom). The word is selected. Keep tapping to quickly expand selection for split words (i.e. email or phone), then sentence, paragraph, all text, then cycling back to none again. Alternatively, drag the end-points word-by-word (no need for character precision.)
2. Just let go.... after 5 secs of no tapping the selected text is autocopied with a little genie-whoosh animation to a clipboard icon that pops up on the bottom of the screen. (Just like the delete animation for notes and email.) The text can also stay highlighted in case you want to drag it around the same edit field, or to delete via the keyboard Del key (or just start typing).
3. When pasting somewhere else, either drag the new clipboard icon from the toolbar strip on the bottom of the screen to the desired text location (with magnifier cursor help), or if the keyboard is up click a new clipboard icon/button on the keyboard to paste at the cursor position.

Of course, adding smart-tags ala the new mac email might make this all moot... if it detects phone or email or link text, it makes them links with a popup to do actions like create or edit a contact, or email it somewhere. No cut-and-paste needed.

 

[iCJB]

iPhone theory for Copy & Past.

In order for copy/past/selection to work on the iPhone, it must be apparent that this ability is present. A button (scissors) is present in the application: mail, notes, safari extra. When the user is viewing text, email or a webpage; the body of text that's in view can be selected. When the user presses the copy/past button (scissor's icon) that function is activated. The user can now select any starting point of the paragraph with one gesture, while the user is holding their finger – can now drag across the text. The zoom bubble transforms into a square magnifier enlarging the text as the user highlights.

And of course when the user lefts the finger a dialog box will appear, informing "The selected text will be copied." [Copy] or [Dismiss]

The Pasting function is just as easy. By pressing the scissor icon, again the function is activated. The user selects an empty text field with one gesture, a dialog box appears requesting to past. [Past] or [Dismiss]. Once the user selects past the square magnifier reappears containing the text. The user is free to place the square any where in the body of the text, when the user is happy he/she taps once to set it.

That's my theory....

--CJB

 

[asaretzky]

My Great Copy and Paste Solution

I really like the idea of a double tap and hold. Just like the existing gesture from the MacBook trackpad.

If a copy loupe could be engaged this way, it could be identified from the place cursor loupe by having a 'spotlight' effect around the cursor- dragging the loupe would select the text one word at a time. The ease of use is worth the trade off of not being able to copy half a word. You have to edit it later using the regular loupe.

I expect a gesture that feels intuitive, regardless if you have to be shown the first time. Alternatively I like something that is interpretable like sign language.

Copy- Tap and hold enable loupe. Place thumb and expand-pinch. (think downward motion) Drag fore-finger to select and copy text. An Icon of Scissors & Clipboard pulses to indicate successful copy. The gesture of opening your thumb and forefinger represents gathering, selecting, or even a pair of scissors opening.


Pasting is a different task entirely, as you may be doing it immediately, or at a later time, or even many times.

If multi-touch can reliably support it- Tap and hold to enable loupe. Double tap 2nd finger. Optional prompt to confirm paste.

Perhaps the iPhone can revolutionize another thing, why only one page on your clipboard? If the return button was to share its space with a paste button (naturally an icon of a bottle of Elmer's glue-all.) Pressing the button could bring up a (or peel back) a list of copied text, selecting one would "load" the select text loupe with text to be pasted where the cursor would then be placed on release of the gesture. The button would also serve as something for people to press out of curiosity. With nothing copied the clipboard could introduce itself, and explain the gestures needed to use it.

Alternatively Im hardly opposed to a double tap and hold gesture bringing up (or peeling back) an entire menu of editing or application specific commands. Perhaps even a menu!

 

[gjosho]

Multi-Clip!

Yes, of course! Really liking your idea of a 'peel back' page for the clipboard featuring multiple clips of text that can be selected and loaded into the loupe for Pasting.

Reading through many of the posts thus far it seems that a 'double tap n hold' is the most obvious way to begin manipulating/selecting text for a Copy/Cut/Paste feature probably realized by a 'scissors' icon either in the menu or on the edge/rim of the loupe.

Nomatter how it works we can be sure it is coming (either Apple or Third Party) and I can't wait for it!

 

[iCJB]

Poppa Steve's "Copy & Past" Keynote

Yes, of course! Really liking your idea of a 'peel back' page for the clipboard featuring multiple clips of text that can be selected and loaded into the loupe for Pasting.

Reading through many of the posts thus far it seems that a 'double tap n hold' is the most obvious way to begin manipulating/selecting text for a Copy/Cut/Paste feature probably realized by a 'scissors' icon either in the menu or on the edge/rim of the loupe.

Nomatter how it works we can be sure it is coming (either Apple or Third Party) and I can't wait for it!

When we see Poppa Steve's keynote on how “Copy & Past” works, it will come like second nature.

 

[asaretzky]

Another great idea!!

How about double tap then hold to activate a menu something like the one on Apple TV Take 2??

It could have Edit fucntions like, copy paste cut select all… undo!! and File functions.. save!! open!! It would be great to save images from the web to your phone! or pdfs or anything!!

 

[ipedro]

Here's my idea again, refined, with a nice screenshot:

1. Double-tap, with two fingers, and screen dims, and text is highlighted (in the closest proximity to the two fingers you tapped. iPhone does automatic "nearest word" calculations to find the most likely "end points" you wanted (when you double-tapped, but generally this won't matter because you can adjust it later). The "end points" appear as small golden "hoops". You are now in "SELECTION MODE". During "selection mode", sliding your finger across the screen still "pans" the region. Pinching to zoom still works normally, as it is a separate gesture.
2. Using one finger, you can move the "end points", and as you do, the magnifying glass appears giving you detailed placement.
3. Tapping ONCE inside the selected region with one finger, gives you an alert box with 4 buttons, "COPY", "CUT", "DELETE", "CANCEL". DELETE will delete the text, and CANCEL will deselect the text, and return to normal mode. NOTE: Tapping outside the selecton "CANCELS" the selection also (tapping inside brings up options).
4. Holding down, and activating the magnifying glass, and letting go, will cause a new alert box to appear when there is text in the clipboard. The buttons will say: "PASTE", "CLEAR", "CANCEL". CANCEL will make the alert box go away. CLEAR will clear the clipboard, and stop it from coming up again until you COPY/CUT more text. If not magnifying glass is available, holding down automatically brings up the alert box for pasting.

I think that's not too techy! I can see this working... come on Apple!

~ CB

Good work Cleverboy. Your use of selection rings would make it very easy to refine a selection.

One thing that I would note however: Your addition of the "Cancel" and "Delete" buttons in the alert box are unnecessary:

To delete a selection, one simply has to hit the backspace button on the virtual keyboard or can begin typing to replace the selected text.

To cancel the screen, just tap out of the box.

That point, however, is moot because the UI could be better served with no alert box and no second step of tapping the selection. It is not necessary and adds an additional step.

Once you're in selection mode, copy and cut buttons appears in the keyboard. Just press the relevant button.

So the process would be:

Select + Copy
1 - Double tap to bring up selection rings
2 - Adjust selection rings while using the Loupe for accuracy
3 - A blue Copy button replaces the Return key. Press it.

Cut is simply paste plus delete. In an effort to keep the keyboard uncluttered, Copy and Cut could be the same button. Copy first, button changes back to Return, tap again to clear the text.

Paste
1 - Select insertion point with the Loupe
2 - A Blue Paste button momentarily replaces the Return key while the Loupe is up. Press it to paste.



note: This replacement of the Return key for a contextual button already appears in Safari as "Go" or "Google" or in the Apps' Search feature as "Search".

 

[cantankerously]

Have a clipboard app run in the background where I can copy and paste from between applications.

 

[ablemac]

Background Clipboard not needed

Have a clipboard app run in the background where I can copy and paste from between applications.

Remember that resources are very limited. For copy/paste between apps, I suggest that copies would be stored to a temp file that clears if resources run low, and only lasts for some set number of App launches, like say 10 App launches after it was copied.

I also agree that Delete and Cancel buttons are not needed. While text is highlighted, simply hit delete, or type any other characters to replace the text, and either would also end the selection.

Double tap with two fingers to start selection. Adjust selection. Double tap with two fingers again to copy and end the selection. Copy should be confirmed with a screen flash or something.

Rings seem like an excellent choice of shape for this. They don't look good in this low rez image, but I'm sure that they'd look good once they're anti-aliased. And I'm pretty sure Apple would make them a light blue.

Able Mac