why doesn’t developers of writing apps take advtange of the ipad’s screen?

[TinaBelcher]

I’ve been through so many, Notes, Pages, Google Doc and Word. I think so far, Word is the only app that tries to imitate the desktop design and display its tools above the document. Google and Pages have a really cheesy approach to the tools. You have to either click on the A or an icon of a pencil brush that opens a menu that rolls down with option for font size, headline, position, bullets, tables, insert image and so on. It gets worse, because it directs you to another menu where you make more choices.

Anyone out there feeling frustrated with developers not taking advantage of all the screen? We have a 12.9 iPad that the same as a laptop, yet they treat the tools like it’s an iPhone 3GS.

I’ve tried to adjust myself the drop-down menu, but I keep having brain fart every time I edit a document on the iPad, lmfao. All I can think is "where’s the tools?" As a student I don’t have time to mess around, I need the tools to be in front of me.

 

[casperes1996]

I’ve tried to adjust myself the drop-down menu, but I keep having brain fart every time I edit a document on the iPad, lmfao. All I can think is "where’s the tools?" As a student I don’t have time to mess around, I need the tools to be in front of me.

Funny. When I do my writing, on any platform, I always hide the tools. Now granted, contrary to iPad (unless you have the accessory), I can use loads of shortcuts, including manually configured ones, to do the things the tools would otherwise allow, but I by far prefer only to see the text, and just have distraction free writing. In fact, I miss Pages 09's ability to enter "writing only" mode. I emulate it in the newer Pages by hiding all tools, but it was nicer in the old Pages.

 

[TinaBelcher]

Funny. When I do my writing, on any platform, I always hide the tools. Now granted, contrary to iPad (unless you have the accessory), I can use loads of shortcuts, including manually configured ones, to do the things the tools would otherwise allow, but I by far prefer only to see the text, and just have distraction free writing. In fact, I miss Pages 09's ability to enter "writing only" mode. I emulate it in the newer Pages by hiding all tools, but it was nicer in the old Pages.

Goes to show how different each individual person is. I unestand why you’d like to have as much pace as possible for typing, but when you do want to select a tool, don’t you find the toolbar above the document more pleasing than having it slide out from the side and having to look up and down to find what you’re looking for?

 

[subjonas]

Most iPad apps originated with the smallish 9.7 inch screen, in which case it made sense to hide tools. Until the user numbers really go up, those developers probably just don’t have the motivation to redesign the UI for the bigger screen. Or maybe they just want uniformity in their app regardless of device size. These are the issues that come up when there is one set of software for both handheld and desktop devices.

 

[casperes1996]

Goes to show how different each individual person is. I unestand why you’d like to have as much pace as possible for typing, but when you do want to select a tool, don’t you find the toolbar above the document more pleasing than having it slide out from the side and having to look up and down to find what you’re looking for?

Not at all actually. In fact that design decision is one of the reasons I prefer Pages to other Office apps. Though I'm sure it also has to do with knowing all the shortcuts and exactly where everything is located. I can easily find my way around Pages almost blindfolded (and I do in fact have terrible eye-sight (kinda tunnel vision but not really - long story)), and I find it much more difficult navigating the ribbon menu in MS Office. I also don't really see the big difference between looking up to see the ribbon menu, and looking to the right to see the Pages sidebar.