I am excited to share with you all the August and September wallpapers: RGB CMYK. As I have been talking about screens and screen time I thought that making RGB wallpapers would be a great starting point for wallpapers. Knowing that I didn’t want to make a simple solid color background I played around with making it monochromatic and I ended up really liking what came out of it.
After making the RGB wallpapers I thought “if I am going to make RGB, I may as well make CMYK ones as well!”
After playing around with that I am pleased to share with you all these 7 wallpapers to be used at your enjoyment.
If you have any themes for future wallpapers let me know on Twitter @iamJeffPerry. You can also email me at contact[at]tablethabit[dot]com.
The RGB CMYK wallpapers can be downloaded here. Once downloaded just uncompress the .zip file in Files and save the desired wallpaper(s) to Photos. From there you can set your wallpaper in settings.
Quick Note: due to the Apple Event tomorrow next issue of Tablet Habit will be pushed to Wednesday. I can’t wait to see what Apple has in store for us tomorrow, and I am sure I will have some thoughts on the event to share Wednesday!
This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.
Lately I have found myself gravitating to tools that don’t offer any kind of internet access whatsoever. As some say, I have been using items “off the grid.”
Before I get into the what let me get into the why. As someone that has managed to write on a MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and other devices with access to the web, I have found it to be consistently distracting. When I have a thought to look something up, or check on an app’s features, I stop the writing flow before it even starts. Also, my task manager has become a bucket filled with things I want or need to do but no semblance of organization. Sure I have shortcuts to add items to Things 3, but I am not making it a priority to use that app to help me get things done. I am not opening it much, nor am I organizing the thoughts and tasks in there. I am effectively filing things away and never looking at them again until it has either been finished or hasn’t been done at all.
As I mentioned in a previous post I have been without a task management system. After listening to the latest episode of Focused all about the Bullet Journal, I thought it might be worth a shot. I grabbed an old notebook I had in my office and started to set up a new BuJo. After starting out using this notebook I noticed the “intentional friction” with this system and it was something I hadn’t had in my other task managers. I would have hundreds of tasks in my digital task managers over time, clogging up the system and making it nearly impossible to decide what is important to work on and what isn’t. I was paralyzed by the amount of choices I had. With Bullet Journal you can add as many tasks as you want, but there is no copy and paste, no automation, and no services connected to the Bullet Journal adding things to my to do list automatically. If there was a task or an idea I had, the only way to get it in this system is with good ol’ old-fashioned pen and paper.
Here’s a quote from the book The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll, creator of the Bullet Journal, that clicked with me:
In 2016 the average American spent nearly eleven hours in front of digital screens each day. Factoring in six to eight hours of sleep (which is also compromised by our smart phones), we’re left with around six hours of non-screen time per day. Now consider the time you spend commuting, cooking, and running errands, and you can see where this is headed: We’re steadily decreasing the amount of time we have to stop and think.
Doing some quick math I average about an hour of free time that doesn’t have screen time in it. My commute is another 2 hours, but I don’t count that because I don’t have a choice in that matter. But my work a free time is almost entirely comprised of screen time, taking up my mental storage and “mental RAM” almost entirely.
As someone that has a full time job watching local TV programming and directing the local nightly news, I am inundated with screen time. It has gotten to the point now where I need to have the anti-blue lens on my prescription glasses to slow the deterioration to my eyes. Reading that quote made me really consider the time I spend in front of a screen, and has made me double down on using a Bullet Journal just to give my mind and my eyes a break.
One thing that I really enjoy about Ryder is that he isn’t just here to tell you how to use the system, but to also share with you insights and information about productivity and task management in general. Honestly, even if you aren’t interested in Bullet Journaling his book can still be of value to people interested in this kind of stuff.
Making pen and paper my main task manager has also allowed me to think beyond the things I need to get done and make decisions about the things I am doing. I am critically thinking about whether or not something on my task list deserves my time and attention or if it is something that I should just remove from my life entirely.
I plan to share more as I continue to use the Bullet Journal methodology and if I find any cool tips or tricks with it I will pass it along.
For those of you that aren’t interested in using a physical journal but are interested in this system, I suggest checking out the app NotePlan. It is a fantastic digital Bullet Journaling app. I have been on the beta for version 3 and it has some very cool features BuJo enthusiasts will enjoy. I don’t want to speak on the new version just yet, but once it is released to the public expect a full review of it here on Tablet Habit.
The AlphaSmart Neo 2
Along with the Bullet Journal, I have been writing with a product that was made in 2013 and has nothing but small LCD screen, and a standard keyboard. The AlphaSmart Neo 2 is a word processor that was meant to be used for typing classes in schools created by former Apple employees. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Stephen Hackett’s video on the Neo 2, it is a fantastic introduction to the product that I can’t compete with. For me, this product is basically a digital typewriter. In fact, the reason I bought this product (again) was because I was seriously considering buying an actual typewriter but quickly decided against it once I looked at the price of one in good working condition online. To add to that, there is no ink or maintenance needed to make sure this machine is working properly, where a typewriter can be expensive to continue to use over time.
I have written the last several newsletters, including this one, with the Neo 2 because I have found that the iPad, even when in Do Not Disturb mode, I can’t focus. I catch myself looking online for information, checking RSS and Twitter feeds for the latest news, and other things that isn’t writing frequently. It took me over an hour to write a first draft for my newsletter before the Neo 2 because I couldn’t focus on the task at hand. There were too many possibilities and open trails to be explored. No matter how much I tried, when it came to putting my head down and writing, the iPad always seemed to offer other things for me to do.
Before you write in, yes I am aware of Airplane Mode, but even when I would turn it on I would simply disable it to quickly look something up and that would begin my descent into a rabbit hole.
With the Neo 2 those things that I would waste time on the iPad with aren’t available. There is no internet, no videos, no podcasts, and nothing else I can focus on. There is simply a keyboard with a blinking line awaiting for my writing to appear.
I used to see that blank page as something daunting, frightening even, but now with the Neo 2 I know that there is nothing I can do except fill that void with my words. I am much more excited to write with the Neo 2 than I have been on the iPad lately. It seems less of chore and more of an experience. This could be because it is a new thing for me to use, but I also consider the fact that when I wrote on the iPad it took significantly more time.
This may be a simple keyboard with a cheap screen but it allows me to turn off the distraction in my brain and just write what is in my head. The words pour out of me as opposed to the light trickle it was when I was writing on a device that had access to the entire world in just a few clicks.
Conclusion
I plan to still write about the iPad, don’t get me wrong. That being said, I think that the way I will be writing about it won’t be on an iPad initially but instead will be on this “digital typewriter” for the time being.
As for the Bullet Journal, I plan to finish reading The Bullet Journal Method and write a review of it. I also will be sharing some of the things I am doing to make the BuJo experience more catered to me, including digital tools I have used.
I hope you had a great holiday weekend. Coming up Thursday I look forward to sharing with you my thoughts on the new iPad Air that is set to be announced later today. If that doesn’t happen, I will share my August and September wallpapers.
This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.
In several reports this morning it is all but confirmed that Apple plans to release a new iPad Air. I have some predictions and concerns about this new iPad Air I would like to share with you today.
From all of the rumors I have read here are the two biggest selling features I can see coming.
iPad Pro Style Redesign
It seems to me that Apple is going away from the soap bar style of product design and is instead going back to the flat edged style of the iPhone 5 and current iPad Pros. If Apple does indeed make this change, it will be a great indicator of what to expect from the iPhone 12 later this year.
Personally, I think this is long overdue and a welcome change to the iPad lineup. This begs the question of whether or not the next iPad will also get a new diagnosis or if it will stay in the old style to make it as affordable as possible. My money is it will stay the same going forward for the time being.
FaceID
There have been consistent rumors and reports indicating that the iPad Air coming out this Fall will have FaceID with the new design. This makes sense seeing that it will be all but impossible to get a TouchID button to fit in the flat-edged design due to it not having a chin and forehead.
I also think that the FaceID the iPad Air will get isn’t the latest version on the 2020 iPad Pros but instead the 2018 version, which is still great but also more cost effective. I might be wrong about this, but I think that if they skimp out on the latest FaceID for this cheaper model it can offer a fantastic compromise.
Now, there was a rumor saying that TouchID will move to the power button, but I see that innovation being saved for something like the next iPad Pro, or even iPhone. The iPad Air rarely has innovation or brand new features put into it. It’s basically a way for Apple to make a slightly less powerful iPad Pro costing about 50%-66% of the price.
My Concerns
Speaking of price, if Apple is indeed releasing a newly designed iPad Air I worry that it will not be in the price range it has been. The biggest question to determine the price point of the iPad Air is the size. According to the most recent reports the iPad Air will be 10.8 inches in screen size. With this it would mean not only new screens to be designed and manufactured, but also new Smart Keyboards and new cases Apple has to make. All of this has to included in the final cost of the machine, and with all these additions it might be difficult for Apple to justify it staying in the $500 price point.
Alternatively, Apple could have the screen stay at 10.8 inches but have the bezel jut out a bit more than the Pro to have it fit inside an iPad Pro 11 inch chassis. If that happens, there is still the issue of new screens being made, but the body and accessories are already made and designed, allowing for the cost of manufacturing to decrease significantly.
I will be the fist to admit that I am not a product designer, nor am I an expert about these kinds of things. That being said, it seems evident that the fewer new things Apple has to make the cheaper the products are.
Conclusion
I have never been one to look at the iPad Air as an option for me, but I can *absolutely* see it as a more affordable option for people looking to use the iPad for work and schooling. It is a great machine that allows for more powerful apps to run like butter.
If I am being honest, it could absolutely be a main computing device for *most* people. If I were in a pinch and couldn’t justify the money I spend on the iPad Pro, I would absolutely be drooling over this new iPad coming out this year.
I hope to see this iPad release sooner rather than later, mainly because I feel that the iPad Air doesn’t need to be on the stage floor for the Fall Apple event. I also think the sooner Apple releases these the better for students who are either waiting to start school or are currently online, but intend to go back to school in the winter. The iPad Air could be a hell of a seller for that community if they get it right.
What do you think about the new iPad? Do you think it will have features I didn’t mention? Leave a comment and let me know.
This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.
This past several months I have been without any task management system. Subsequently, I missed a couple of posts for Tablet Habit. I apologize for that.
I wanted to talk about what it has been like without any task management system. Partly to showcase how important it is to have a system in place and partly because I want to articulate this to myself.
Day to day I was relying on my mind to not only come up with ideas and tasks for me to do but to remember them as well. As David Allen, creator of the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, says, “Your brain is for having ideas, not storing them.”
Occasionally I would write my thoughts into a Field Notes notebook for safekeeping. The issue there was that I was capturing ideas, which is great, but after that there was little to no processing.
For those that don’t know the GTD methodology has 5 steps:
Capture
Process
Organize
Review
Do
These steps aren’t hard to wrap your brain around, but I highly encourage people to read the original book of Getting Things Done to understand the full scope.
A quick anecdote on why people always say to read the Getting Things Done book. I thought it was a step or two away from a cult phenomenon with how many people told me to fully grasp GTD I had to read the book. However, I finally caved after years of reading synopsis and watching videos explaining the methodology. I have to say, the book is much better than anything I can watch on YouTube, read online, or listen to on a podcast. There is nothing like hearing straight from the horse’s mouth what this system is all about.
I had capturing down with my Field Notes notebook but I had nothing in place for digital items. When I shared with you my quick capture Shortcuts those weren’t something that I was making for the sake of my readers, it was something that I was in dire need of.
A long time ago I decide that Things 3 would be my task manager of choice. I could get into my reasoning on a later post, but for me it was the best option available.
WIth capturing down to a science the next step I have to nail down is processing.
For me, the next step is to make time for a mind sweep and gather all of my various notebooks and notes with possible next action steps and see where things go from there.
If you are someone that is in need of a task management system consider reading Getting Things Done by David Allen. If you are comfortable going to a library you can borrow the book for free.
I don’t intend to make this newsletter a GTD newsletter but sometimes the device isn’t the thing I want to talk about, I want to talk about the things we do on the device. Until next time, I will be capturing all of the tasks and ideas I can and begin processing them.
If you have any questions or comments let me know. I’m happy to help anyone interested.
This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.
After making writing a routine for this newsletter I wanted to automate things a bit so that I can get into the writing flow even faster. After some tweaking I think I have finally created a version 1.0 of my Writing Mode Shortcut.
Essentially, this Shortcut sets the brightness and volume where I want it, creates an event called “Writing” in my Calendar, sets Do Not Disturb, Opens Drafts, and adds a word of encouragement before I get started.
Here’s a breakdown of each item.
Set Volume
When I am writing I like to have my volume loud enough where I can hear it, but not loud enough where it distracts my thought process when writing. After some trial and error 20% is about where I need it to hit that sweet spot.
Set Brightness
Similar to the Set Volume action, I like to make sure my iPad is at the brightness level I prefer for writing. To me, 70% seems the be the brightest I want my iPad when I am in my office writing.
Add 30 Minutes to Date
This is an action that I use as a later variable. I use at as a custom Pomodoro technique.
When I first start writing in the morning it can be daunting at times to look at a blank page. When I am in that mood I often use the Pomodoro Technique to get myself going. The first step in creating a custom Pomodoro Timer in Shortcuts is with this action.
This action works by taking the current date and time and adding 30 minutes to it. From there, I use it in the next action to create an event.
You can always adjust the time in this for to your preference if you so choose.
Create Event
With the adjusted time, I create an event called “Writing” in my calendar that starts immediately and ends 30 minutes later using the Adjusted Date as a Magic Variable.
Set Do Not Disturb on Until Event Ends
Once that event is created, I use it as a Magic Variable as well for setting Do not Disturb on. After the event is created I turn on Do Not Disturb and set it to turn back off once the newly created event has ended.
I originally was going to use a simple timer for this Pomodoro Technique but I realized that I wanted to keep track of how must time I was using to write, so I decided to use the Calendar as a means of record keeping.
Of course, I don’t always hit this Shortcut every 30 minutes, so I adjust it later to reflect the actual amount of time I was writing but nonetheless it is a good starting point for me to time track my writing.
Open Dark Noise and play Coffee Shop
Dark Noise is an app that adore using when in the writing spirit. To be honest, I use it when I need to focus while working. If you don’t know, Dark Noise has a multitude of soundscapes you can listen to to help you focus, sleep, or to simply fill your ears with something.
I often use the Coffee Shop sound when I am writing. If I were able to go out to an actual coffee shop I wouldn’t be using this app. Alas, because we are in the pandemic this soundscape will make due for the time being.
Open Drafts
Once I have everything set, it is time to get writing! The app I use when writing is unsurprisingly Drafts. This Shortcut action simply opens the Drafts application. The way that Drafts works is that if you open the app it usually starts with a blank page waiting for you to start writing, which is exactly what I want.
If I indeed need to open something I have been working on, it is stupid easy to open up the drafts list and search for what I need and open it up.
I originally wanted to make this a list of items to choose from. However, after some time with it I noticed that when I give myself the barrier to make a decision before I begin writing it negatively affects my ability to get into writing flow. So, I decided that I will just open a new draft and start writing. It is more important for me to get into the flow than it is to be in the right doc.
Once I am editing or taking a break from writing I can figure out where this writing goes, but for “Writing Mode” priority number one it writing.
Notification of a random thing of encouragement
Finally, I wanted to have a list of different words of encouragement for me to use to get started. So far, I threw in a few simple things in a list.
With this list, I then have it choose a random one and display it as a notification. It is just a small thing that helps me get into a positive mood and trick my brain into being excited to write, even though it’s 5am.
You can download the Shortcut here and start to make it yours today. If you make some interesting tweaks or additions feel free to email me at jeff[at]tablethabit[dot]com (or just reply to this email). You can also share it with me on Twitter @iamJeffPerry.
This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.
Effective immediately, Tablet Habit will be free for all subscribers through October 18th, 2020.
When I launched this newsletter, I wanted to offer both a free and paid plan for the newsletter. However, I didn’t want to charge anyone until _after_ October 18th. Sadly, the way Substack works with paid subscriptions caused some to be charged when signing up for a paid account. It has also recently disabled the ability for anyone to sign up or upgrade to a paid account. In a nutshell, I am making Tablet Habit free for all for now.
This fiasco is because I had billing paused from the beginning of the launch of this newsletter. Unfortunately, that pause did not prevent people from being charged when they first sign up. From what I understand, Substack’s policy is to charge someone who signs up for a paid subscription even if billing is paused. After some time of the billing being paused, the ability for anyone to sign up for a paid account or upgrade from a free account to a paid account was removed. The reason for or this is because I had billing paused, which in turn caused paid subscriptions to be unavailable.
Originally, I wanted to leave Substack because I was furious with this issue and a lack of response from their support staff. However, after speaking with their support team and having one of the co-founders reach out to me and explain the situation, I have decided to continue with Substack.
After contemplating whether I turn on billing to allow for those wanting to pay for the newsletter to be able to do so, I decided instead to make the newsletter free for all until I unpause billing October 19th.
What this means for current paid subscribers
If you are a paid subscriber, you don’t need to do anything. You will not be charged again until after October 18th because I will continue to have billing paused. If you paid for a year of Tablet Habit, your one-year subscription shouldn’t start until October 18th. If that isn’t the case, let me know, and I will work with you to find a solution.
What this means for free subscribers
Through October 18th, you will get all the perks and additional emails in your inbox free of charge. Once October 18th comes, you will be back on the free tier unless you upgrade your account. I will be sure to remind you as things get closer to that date, but until then, enjoy the full Tablet Habit experience on me.
What this means for people not subscribed
If you sign up for free today, you will get Tablet Habit in its entirety for free through October 18th. After that, you can continue to be a free member, only getting one email a week, or you can sign up to be a paid member. You can learn more about being a paid member here.
I apologize for the confusion with this newsletter, but this is all new for me, and I hope that you understand this is just me figuring this out and making decisions about this newsletter. I am also the one giving technical support both on Twitter and email.
Subscribe Today
If you haven’t, consider subscribing to Tablet Habit today. You can do so here.
I appreciate every one of you who have signed up for this newsletter, and I hope you continue to support me as I work out the kinks with this.
After the announcement of new Widgets for iOS and the ability to have them anywhere on your home screen I immediately thought about the new possibilities for the iPad. I wanted to make the iPad home screen a mission control center of sorts. I could have a task manager widget, a Drafts widget, and others available right on the home screen for me to use when I want. Then I learned that widgets aren’t available to go everywhere on the iPad like it is on the iPhone.
I immediately thought that this was some kind of bug, surely Apple has this planned for the iPad as well right? Wrong. Craig Federighi explained on the podcast Waveform that widgets for the iPad will continue to be constrained.
Whether over time we want to let you push that further, letting you move widgets out of their designated spot beside the app icons or not, we’ll see. But we felt like we had a great balanced solution for this already.
To me, this seems like a cop-out for Apple. There are many reasons that the iPad should also have access to put widgets anywhere on the home screen.
The Current Solution isn’t Useful
If we look at the “great balanced solution” Apple has put in place for the iPad it is about as useful as having 4 Shortcuts on your home screen. In fact, I would argue that having 4 Shortcuts is actually more useful than the current widget system they have in place for the iPad.
If you look at the left side of the home screen for the iPad you will see that it is a column that goes from top to bottom entirely, but only shows the first half of the column by default. This means that if you want to see the other widgets outside of the newly created main widget area you have to scroll down the empty column to have them appear.
The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” comes to me when I look at this solution Apple has for the iPad. The 2–4 widgets you decide are worthy for the Home Screen section of you iPad are the only ones that you will always see. The rest are non-existent unless you remember they are there for you to use.
This solution also breeds an unnecessary war for the home screen where the user has to battle with the options they have only to have multiple casualties by the end of it. Can’t there be enough room for everyone on the home screen?
There is More Space on the iPads
Naturally, the iPad has more screen real estate than the iPhones do. Meaning that there is opportunity for more widgets to live on an iPad’s home screen. If the option were there for iPads to have widgets available on the entire screen it would allow for more great widgets to coexist. As I mentioned before, the current system creates a battle for the top, making widgets less intriguing for users. Why can’t us iPad users use the extra space for widgets?
The worst part about the current “solution” is that widgets can only exist on the first page of the home screen. It’s not like each page can have a couple widgets available, it is specifically only page one. With the iPhone you can have a widget on any page without any kind of restriction.
If Apple were to open this up for the whole screen instead of having 2–3 widgets you could have 5–7 per page. This would allow for new and innovative ways for people to use the apps they love with widgets that look fantastic. It’s a shame that the larger iPads have even more restrictions than the smaller iPhones have.
The Home Screen is Barren for Most
The iPad has gone through so many iterations with the Dock and home screen that for many the home screen is now just an empty wasteland. That or they keep the apps they need quick access to when they aren’t connected to a keyboard. I remember several instances where people were just having their entire App Library in a folder on their dock and using Spotlight to get to the apps they have in the folder. In fact, this is how I use my iPad most of the time. However, I don’t have a folder with all my apps in my dock. I just use Spotlight by default to open up apps.
Because the home screen is empty or unused for many, it is rife with opportunities to make that empty home screen something much more powerful and innovative.
Instead of having to open Drafts to start a new note I can simply go home and tap on the widget creating a new note. Instead of having to open up Reminders to add a new task I can just head home and use a widget to add a new task.
If Apple were to allow widgets to be available anywhere on the home screen the uniqueness and personability of a home screen would be endless.
Final Thoughts
Apple made the move to make iOS and iPad OS different, and they have; just not in the way I would have wanted. The iPhone is getting features that the iPad doesn’t, while the iPad is left out to dry.
This “solution” Apple currently has for the iPad has all of the restrictions with none of the upsides. I for one have filed my feedback on this decision and I hope that Apple decides to change their mind on this before iOS 15. That said, Apple holding this feature back until then would make sense for them to do as a quick win from the community next WWDC.
This was first posted on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. Sign up today.
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I recently sold my MacBook Pro and iPad 7 to buy the new 2020 11” iPad Pro. I also picked up the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. The reason for this was because I wanted to get the best iPad I could and make it my one and only computer.
To rewind a bit, I used to use a 16” MacBook Pro for both my marketing/videography job and for personal use when I could; but when I decided to leave that line of work the MacBook had to be returned to the company. Once that happened I found myself wanting to use my iPad 7 as my main device even though I had the 2017 MacBook Pro as well. Mind you, nothing was wrong with my MacBook Pro, I just felt that the iPad was more my flavor of computing.
Now that I am a month into using my 11” iPad Pro full time, I couldn’t be happier with my decision. When people ask me why I decided to move to the iPad over the Mac it comes down to two reasons: the operating system and what I think the future will be for the platform.
Why iPad OS over macOS
After watching the WWDC keynote this year I realized that while the lines between the Mac and iPad are beginning to blur with the announcement of Apple silicon, these devices are still vastly different from one another.
The biggest difference for me isn’t the apps or the way certain things interact on the screen, it is automation and making these computer do the things that you want them to. Enter Shortcuts, the app formerly known as Workflow that has since been acquired by Apple and added as a mainstay for the iPhone and iPad. Shortcuts is by far and away my favorite app of all time. The reason for this is because it’s allowed me, and others like me, to unlock the full potential of my iOS and iPad OS devices.
To me, that is the difference between a Mac and iPad in a nutshell. If you want to do something for automation on the Mac you can either try using an app like Keyboard Maestro or you will need to know how to code something yourself to make it happen. With Shortcuts you can create your own automation system in a matter of minutes using Lego-style blocks to build on one another. Shortcuts might seem like a rudimentary way to program for those that know how to code, but as someone that has tried learning to code over the years Shortcuts makes more sense to my brain than anything I could write myself.
In fact, it’s the first app I go to when I have an idea to automate or make something I do simpler. When I was using my Mac I felt as if that aspect of computing was unattainable for me. For example, I didn’t know how to write code to edit text the way that I wanted to, and as someone that works with text a lot it seemed inferior to my iPad for that reason. With an iPad I can use Shortcuts and make automated changes to the text in a matter of seconds.
I often would write things on my Mac and reach for my iPhone or iPad just so I can take the text that I spent so much time writing and run it through shortcuts for various things I wanted to do with it rather than fiddle with it on my Mac in hopes to find a solution.
This is not to say that Shortcuts is simple or completely understandable the first go around, but I have spent significantly less time learning Shortcuts than I have trying to learn JavaScript or Swift. It is safe to say that I absolutely have a better grasp on Shortcuts than I do any coding language.
Shortcuts allows the democratization of automation for people like me with no coding experience required. For that reason I chose the iPad over the Mac.
That being said, Shortcuts wasn’t the only reason I chose the iPad over a Mac. The other is where I see the iPad and Mac in the future.
iPad and Mac Futures
My other reason for going with the iPad is because after the announcement of Apple silicon my first thought was that the Mac is going to have a turbulent 2-4 years as they transition from Intel to ARM. I am confident the new ARM Macs will be better for the user in the long run, but as we are in a transition period for the Mac it seems to me that buying a new MacBook isn’t a great idea for the foreseeable future. Yes, Apple did say that they intend to release new Intel Macs before going entirely ARM, but the questions of “Should I buy a Mac right now?” and “What is the best Mac for me?” becomes muddied and difficult to answer for even the most knowledgeable.
On the other side of the coin, there is the iPad lineup–specifically the iPad Pro–that has recently had its 3rd iteration and the addition of one of the best keyboards on the market for any computer. To me, the Mac is on its way to being an amazing machine, but the iPad has already set its own foundation for a fruitful future. I firmly believe that this 2020 iPad can easily be my main computer for 2-4 years without issue, which is something I cannot say about the newest Intel Mac computers out today.
I don’t mean to rain on the Mac parade entirely. I am sure that the transition will be an overall smooth process. In fact it seems that Apple has really taken everything into consideration before officially announcing Apple silicon with Rosetta 2, emulation, and more. That being said, even if the new Macs are indeed amazing I personally will still prefer the iPad Pro over a MacBook Pro because the experience on the iPad is far superior than the Mac for me.
Final Thoughts
A much as this article was about the differences between the Mac and iPad, I don’t want this to be an additional piece of artillery in the war over whether or not the iPad is a worthy Mac alternative or not. To me it is, to others it isn’t; it’s that simple.
For me, I am beyond excited about the switch to the iPad and I absolutely adore my 11” iPad Pro. I can’t wait to push this machine to its limit over the next few years and share with you what I learn and create here on Tablet Habit.
I recently sold my iPad 7 and MacBook Pro to buy the 2020 11” iPad Pro and make it my only computer. Since then, I have been thinking a lot about Tablet Habit and somehow making that era of my writing career resurge, and with this newsletter I can make that happen in ways I could only dream of before. Not only will it directly be sent to your email, but it offers so much more than what Tablet Habit offered back in the day.
Tablet Habit is a newsletter about all things iPad. From reviews of apps and products, interviews with other writers and developers, exclusive podcast episodes, news and opinion pieces, exclusive wallpapers, and more coming out 3-4 times a week it will be the one-stop-shop for all things iPad.
Tablet Habit is free to subscribe but you’ll only get one post a week. If you want to receive all 3-4 posts a week, the monthly wallpapers, and access to the podcast you will need to be a paid subscriber.
Right now I am offering a free 90 day trial as a way for me to prove to anyone reading this that my work will be worth your hard-earned money. Sign up for the paid subscription today, but know that you will not be charged until October 18th, 2020.
To sweeten the pot, I am offering a launch special where anyone that subscribes by August 10th can get it at a 40% discount for as long as you stay subscribed.
With Tablet Habit becoming my main place for writing about the iPad and other things, that means that I will be using my personal blog for more, well, personal things. I will still write posts on here about non-iPad related things, and I may even share posts from Tablet Habit here from time to time as well. That said, I think that this blog is going to be more more informal outlet for me going forward.
Seeing how this is still on micro.blog I see it only fitting to make jeffperry.blog my mainstay for micro posts I want to write and post online.
I am beyond excited about what the future holds for Tablet Habit and this blog, and I can’t wait to share with you everything I am working on. Until then, the first post of Tablet Habit comes out Monday, July 27th 2020.
So apparently the Split text Shortcut action isn’t working on iPad OS 14? Can anyone else confirm they also see this issue?
I wrote about it after my first listen a while back, and I still feel a lot of the same feelings as I did then, but I wanted to share it again because one thing I didn’t focus on enough in my original post was the sentiment Tim mentioned yesterday:
I started thinking of the why for my writing. And really, it comes down to what it started to be: I write for me, and me alone. What I have learned over my time of writing is that people seem to enjoy what I write for myself.
Gruber and Merlin say similar things on their talk, but I either didn’t completely comprehend it at the time, or it is just something that is hitting me especially hard this most relisten.
In my original post about this piece of audio I said:
After this, they talk about how you can’t, and probably shouldn’t, make everyone happy. Merlin says it best when he explains how he admires John because John’s voice and passion outweighs any obligation to make people happy. He doesn’t go out of his way to upset anyone but he also is steadfast to continue the path he feels is right. This is something I think I lack, and that I should be more assertive at times.
I like to think that over the past 2 years I have gained more confidence in my writing ability and have the assertiveness to say what I want to say without worrying about what others might think, this blog if for me first and others second.
What I really wish is that there were more talks like this about writing online. Every time I listen to this I look for more talks like this but there are so many crappy podcasts about blogging it is hard to find the cream that rises to the top.
One podcast that does scratch this itch for me is Dialog. The podcast will change topics each season but the first season, now complete, focused on writing and spoke with many different kinds of authors and writers to talk about their history with writing, writing process, and more.
Aside from this podcast, I am not sure where I can find more meaningful conversations about writing and blogging online. So if you are reading and know of something let me know on Twitter.
My personal projects – my writing and my podcast – have been on hiatus for a while. I felt like my creative energy was zapped, that I didn’t have the desire to do these things anymore. I’m not sure if it was depression or a culmination of things, but I just didn’t feel creative anymore. I felt unmoored while trying to navigate my creative life.
It’s in these times that I turn my focus to my journal, so I can start to figure out what it really is that’s driving me. Why am I writing? Why am I podcasting? Do people enjoy this? Does that matter? Who am I writing or speaking to when I share my thoughts? At the end of it all, I have to ask: What’s my why?
[…]
I started thinking of the why for my writing. And really, it comes down to what it started to be: I write for me, and me alone. What I have learned over my time of writing is that people seem to enjoy what I write for myself.
[…]
So, I’m going to be doing some things to return to form. I’m starting to write again, and it’s pouring out of me. I’m going back to the approach I took when I first started: write for myself, and then publish. Some of my stuff might be small, some of it larger. But it’s going to be on the subjects and topics that I want.
Tim manages to say things that have been on my mind for a long time better than I ever could. I have battled with myself for a long time about why I write, and I came to a similar conclusion as Tim. In fact, the main reason I moved my website from RocketPanda.com to JeffPerry.blog was because I wanted my website to reflect me not “some brand.” In hindsight, I could have written for myself without needing to change the domain (again), but the sentiment of changing domains definitely solidified my decision to stop trying to write for “my audience” and start writing for myself.
It was a pleasure to work with Tim on his new logo and header image. It is a logo I am very proud of, and seeing it live on his website make me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Adding custom class tags isn’t exactly a new revolution in web development, and I am sure many of those reading this have used them in the past, but as someone that just started using them I thought it would be fun to share with others just how much you can do with a custom tag if you know even a little bit of HTML and CSS.
As many know, I like to play around with my website and change things up with my theme(s). I primarily do this by selecting a base WordPress theme and editing that theme in the “Additional CSS” section when customizing my WordPress theme.
If you aren’t familiar with CSS, you can learn a lot fairly quickly when using the Developer Tools in Google Chrome. Once I started inspecting the websites I thought were beautifully designed and researching about the fundamentals of CSS I started to mess around with my own website. After some trial and error I managed to make changes to my website I never thought I could. Eventually, editing WordPress themes and making changes became a hobby/addiction for me.
What I have done recently is added class attributes to specific parts of my writing. For those of you that don’t know, if you were to write your posts in HTML you can add a class attribute to items and use them with custom CSS to change only items with that tag.
For example, if you wanted to have a class that makes your text larger, you can make a class tag called “big-text” which you can then edit what happens to the text.
This is normal text. This is big text.
That code would look something like this after adding custom CSS to that attribute.
This is normal text.
This is big text.
To get these results, you need to add custom CSS to the newly created attribute. As the name suggest we want to make changes to the font-size of the text tagged with “big-text.”
So, let’s say we want to make the text 300% larger than normal when tagged with “big-text.”
Here’s what we could use for the CSS to make that happen:
.big-text { font-size: 300%; }
Once you add this to the CSS you will see all text that has that class tag will be 3 times larger than normal.
It would look something like this.
There are a lot of use cases you can make for using custom attributes, but for me I had one thing in particular I wanted to change.
What I use it for
I didn’t start using class tags for text size, instead I used it for when I make a Link Post and want to characterize the link to the original source. If you go to a recent link post of mine you will see where my source link at the top is different to other hyperlinks in the post. A great example is my recent post about Rosemary Orchard’s empty link Drafts Action.
As you can see, the section that I use at the top to link to Rose’s post is underlined while other links are not. I simply did this by using a custom class attribute in the post and added a “border-bottom” CSS attribute to that tag.
Here is what my post looked like with the custom HTML class:
I don’t have a coding background, everything I use has been self-taught or explained to me from someone who knows more than I do about coding. I am sure someone reading this who is much more knowledgeable will tell me there is a more efficient way of making the same tweaks to my website. With that said, if the “more efficient” solution involves a lot more coding and knowledge beyond my limited scope of web development, I think I will stick with this solution for the foreseeable future.
As is often the case, as I use Drafts I find things that I need to do and write a script to fix it for me! In this case, I have a habit of planning to add links later in my text, but find it a pain to go through the whole article to find them and the find function is too darn manual for me. There were already a few actions in the Actions Directory, but they didn’t quite work the way I wanted them to. If you haven’t guessed where this is going yet: I wrote my own!
As someone starting to use Drafts for all of my writing and blog posts, this drafts action is an absolute dream. When I am in “writing mode” the last thing I want to do is bounce from Drafts to find links on the web. Now, I can simply insert a blank link (thanks to this action that Tim Nahumck sent me a while back) and figure it out later once I have a final draft for my blog post.
Download it yourself on the Drafts Actions Directory today and go thank Rose for making your blogging experience 1000% better.
It’s unclear what exactly destroyed RSS, but Google closing Google Reader definitely didn’t help. Another factor was the rise of aggregation sites like Slashdot, Digg, and Reddit, which seductively took on the burden of surfacing the best content.
One, arguments about the “death of RSS” often cite the sites in that quote as killing it, not to mention Twitter and Facebook. My question is “how big was RSS when Google killed Reader?” Was it as big as the audiences of reddit, Twitter, and Facebook combined? I would humbly guess…no, not even close.
[...]
And two, articles like this suggest that RSS has been dead and that it’s time for it to come back. Maybe I’m biased because I never left, but in the wake of Reader shutting down, a bunch of RSS syncing services have cropped up.
I have seen many different posts claiming RSS needs a resurgence. As someone that didn’t even start getting into RSS until after Google Reader was killed I personally don’t understand how people think RSS is dead or dying. Yes, it isn’t handled by the biggest tech company in the world. Personally, I think services like Feedly, Feedbin, Inoreader, and Feed Wrangler have been handling the market just fine after Google killed off its RSS service.
Last month I was sad to report that the new iPad Pro keyboard/trackpad combination from Brydge, the makers of my longstanding favorite iPad Pro keyboard, was just not good enough. The keyboard and price were both impressive, but the trackpad experience itself was poor compared to pretty much any other pointing device you can connect to an iPad.
At the time, I expressed some hope that Brydge might be able to turn things around by updating the trackpad’s firmware. And that glimmer of hope got a little brighter last week with the release of a firmware update app that improves clicking and scrolling features.
Unfortunately, the update that Brydge rolled out along with the app doesn’t really do anything to fix the fundamental failings of the Brydge trackpad experience. Cursor movement and two-finger scrolling is still jerky and unreliable in ways that other trackpads and mice aren’t.
It is a shame that the people who spent hundreds on their Brydge Keyboard are getting probably the worst trackpad keyboard they can for an iPad. I was thrilled with my Brydge 10.2 keyboard, but sadly Brydge seems to have shot themselves in the foot with this keyboard. They knew it was a risk to make a pseudo trackpad made to trick the accessibility trackpad support that showed up in early iPad OS 13. Now that iPad OS 13.4 has come out with full-fledged trackpad and mouse support this workaround Brydge has made is useless and inconvenient.
I hope that Brydge makes a turn for the better, but I am not holding my breath.
With the Magic Keyboard coming out for the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pros, many people–including myself–were left longing to have a better keyboard and trackpad option for their 2019 iPad 7. Thankfully, Logitech didn’t leave people like me out of their lineup, they instead created the Logitech Combo Touch. Does it have a futuristic floating option? No, but it does offer more than any other keyboard on the market for the 2019 iPad 7, iPad Air 3, or 10.5” iPad Pro.
Typing Experience
With 20 years under their belt, Logitech knows what it takes to make a worthwhile typing experience. That said, getting to the point where I could use all of the keys as intended took some time and a trip to the Logitech support website to get there.
Some Keys Weren’t Working
When I first set up this case I decided to test out the keys. After my first Brydge keyboard, I feel like I have to do it to ensure that nothing is dead on arrival. When testing it, I noticed that the apostrophe (‘) key and the backslash () key were not functioning. What was more interesting was that when I held down Shift and pressed the quotation mark (“) key, it accurately typed on the screen.
I was perplexed at this; it was obvious the key wasn’t the problem. I did more digging and noticed that Logitech offers an app to update the firmware on this keyboard. Hoping that there was some kind of firmware update, I installed it on the app to see if Logitech came up with a fix. Sadly, there was nothing.
At this point, I felt like the only way for me to get this issue fixed was to either wait for some kind of firmware update from Logitech, if there ever would be one, or contact Logitech in hopes they know a workaround on this. I spoke with Logitech Support about this issue and they had a quick fix for my issues.
According to Logitech, iOS 13.4 has an issue where the hardware keyboard settings don’t recognize all of the Combo Touch’s keys. The fix for this was to open up Settings and go to General>Keyboard>Hardware Keyboard and change the layout from Automatic to the US option. Once I did that, every key worked as expected. According to the Logitech Expert, I chatted with, this is an iOS/iPad OS bug. At first, I felt like this was a Logitech screw up, but after updating from 13.4 to a 13.5 public beta the issue resolved itself without issue. Hopefully whatever caused this issue is fixed with the upcoming iOS and iPad OS update, if not it would be a real pain for people to make this change manually.
Better in Every Way
Once I managed to get the issue with my keyboard fixed, I was finally able to try it out and see how it worked. Logitech has a track record for making keyboards with solid typing experiences, and this one is no exception. The key travel is much deeper than the Butterfly keys on the Smart Folio Keyboard and allows for a much more comfortable typing. The responsiveness to the keys is quick and precise, I never feel like a key isn’t recognized when I type on it. Finally, the size of this keyboard fits even my big hands. Coming from my MacBook Pro, It did take some time to get used to it after working on a full-sized keyboard. That said, I was able to make the switch in a matter of minutes.
There is one thing that I wish Logitech, and really every keyboard manufacturer would change. The egregious arrow keys.
Much like older MacBook Pros, the arrow keys have full-sized left and right arrow keys but have half-sized up and down arrow keys, making a three-key sandwich. As someone that never managed to get used to this kind of setup. I desperately want all four arrow keys to be uniformly half-size–which is also known as the inverted T setup. As someone that writes a lot on my iPad, seeing this bad sandwich-looking arrow keys setup makes me feel as if I am being punished for wanting to quickly move around my text with a keyboard rather than tapping on a screen or using the trackpad. If anyone has any ideas on how I can get used to these arrow keys I am all ears. For now, I will be looking down and placing my fingers on these atrocious arrow keys every time I need to use them.
Logitech Control App
One new thing that came with this keyboard was the Logitech Control app. Turns out, Logitech has listened to their users cry for more control over their keyboard. In the app, you can update the firmware of the keyboard, if they ever send one, as well as change settings to the physical keyboard. You can increase the backlit time on the keys from 10, to 30, or even 60 seconds. Furthermore, you can adjust the fade for the backlight keys making the time it takes to go from lit to unlit slower or faster.
By default, both settings are at their lowest setting, but I personally don’t mind if the keyboard stays lit longer. I decided to make my keys stay lit for 30 seconds instead of the default 10 seconds. Given that this keyboard is powered by the Smart Connector, one can assume the longer you leave your keys backlit the faster your battery will drain. I don’t know by how much, but I suspect LED lights don’t take much power to stay illuminated, and I would rather grab for my charger a few minutes sooner if that means I can see the keys I am typing on in the dark.
Case
The keyboard case is primarily covered in a fabric akin to nylon. It has a heather gray look to it, which makes for an elegant looking computer. My only concern, which is the same as the Smart Keyboard, is that over time your hands will make this clean fabric turn from a heather gray to a smeared brown. Even if I were to wash my hands every time I use it, I know that over time the oils and dirt my hands will dirty this fabric. That said, if Logitech were to use a plastic or metal alternative, I don’t think it would be as inviting and comfortable as the fabric lining they chose is. My hope is that this case won’t be ruined over time, but it is a risk I am willing to take.
One thing I may do in the future is to wipe down the keyboard with a microfiber cloth dampened with water. That is the most common way Apple has instructed people to clean their Smart Folio keyboard. Granted, the Smart Folio Keyboard doesn’t have exposed keys that are susceptible to water damage. If this keyboard does become grimy and dirty looking I will take my chances and try to clean it as best I can.
This keyboard case does allow for you to remove the keyboard itself and have it act simply as a tablet with a kickstand. The Surface-like design allows for the iPad to be angled for any viewing mode you want. You can go from watching a YouTube video to writing notes with your Apple Pencil in a matter of seconds by lowering the iPad and opening your handwriting app. I absolutely love that you can use your iPad in any way you want with this case attached. If we were to compare this to the Brydge keyboard, you would never have been able to use that keyboard case for drawing on your iPad, as it was strictly only for laptop-style work.
If you are hoping this case is slim and sleek, you’re going to be disappointed. This case is a beefy monstrosity. Once you put on the keyboard and the kickstand case on your petite iPad, it more than doubles in thickness. In fact, it is almost as thick as a 2010 MacBook Pro, you know, the one that had a disc drive still in it.
While considering buying this product, I looked at other reviews before making my decision and every single one of them spun this thick case as something about being ultra-protective of the iPad. Personally, I am not here to protect my iPad from a 30-foot fall with half-inch plastic encasing my iPad. That said, the thickness isn’t as blasphemous as it’s previous predecessors like the ironically-named Slim Combo. While I would like this case to be slimmer, I really am not sure where Logitech could slim anything down. The kickstand is a perfect thickness and allows the iPad to be in a wide range of angles without compromise, the plastic going around the iPad is on the thicker side but that will only make the edges thinner, and the keyboard needs to be as thick as t it is because key travel is important and Logitech knows that.
I am not an engineer, nor do I play one on TV, but as I think more about this keyboard case the less I can find a simple way to make it any slimmer without compromise. So, if you want a keyboard with a great typing experience that is smart-connector compatible, you have to sacrifice a few millimeters and a few extra ounces to make that happen, or buy the Apple Smart Keyboard with the inferior, yet slimmer, Butterfly keys.
At the end of the day the thickness doesn’t bother me enough to consider not using it, but if you decide to buy this keyboard know that it is a keyboard that has more to love than most iPad keyboards. Not to mention, it’s the best keyboard case that offers trackpad support for these iPad models.
Trackpad
The most anticipated feature on this keyboard is the built-in trackpad, and it doesn’t disappoint. All of the gestures that Magic Keyboard uses are available for this keyboard, and they work flawlessly.
The trackpad, compared to the Magic Keyboard, is a tad smaller measuring in at 3 ¾” wide by 2 1/8” long while the Magic keyboard trackpad for the 12.9” is 4” wide and 2 1/8” long. Both the Combo Touch and the Magic Keyboard pale in comparison to the 2017 13” MacBook Pro coming in at 5 5/16” wide and 3 5/16” long. While it may seem small compared to the MacBook Pro trackpad size, it isn’t a dealbreaker.
I haven’t seen the Magic Keyboard for the 12.9” in person, but from what I can tell the reason for the both the Magic Keyboard and Combo Touch being close in size is because the Combo Touch doesn’t need room for the keyboard to float atop the case like the Magic Keyboard does. In fact, the only thing keeping this keyboard from bumping right up to the iPad itself is a small section of the case used to keep the plastic keys from touching the glass screen. Logitech did a beautiful job in making every millimeter of this case count, and users like myself are grateful for that.
There is one thing about this trackpad that is different from that of the Magic Keyboard, though. The trackpad for this case is a “diving board” style trackpad while the Magic Keyboard is one solid piece like that of the MacBook and MacBook Pros. To explain, you can click at the very top of a Magic Keyboard without issue, while with the Logitech Combo that top part is cannot be depressed for a click because it depends on that top part as a spring to allow the rest of the trackpad to be depressed. Thankfully, there is an easy fix for this.
If you want to save yourself from worrying about whether you have your hand on the right part of the trackpad to click, just turn on “tap to click” and you can use this trackpad without any of the aforementioned issues. To do this, open the Settings app and go to General>Trackpad and turn on Tap to Click. Once that is enabled, you will no longer need to press down on the trackpad at all to click, you simply tap on the trackpad and all will be well. Once I turned this setting on. my issues with the trackpad were immediately resolved and I have been using it joyfully since then.
Conclusion
If you have an iPad Air 3, 10.5” iPad Pro, or the 2019 iPad 7 and are looking for a keyboard, you should pick up this keyboard immediately. It’s bulky and not as slim-looking as the Apple Smart Keyboard, but it is a hell of a lot better to type on and offers trackpad support when seemingly no one else does. With the price-point less than the Smart Keyboard it is a no-brainer that this is the superior keyboard for anyone looking to use an iPad for their work.
During this time of isolation a common thought that came to my mind is that I want to have a community of sorts, a place for me and others to go to talk about the things we like.
Whether that is Apple stuff, productivity tips, or even more fun things like gaming and Animal Crossing, I want to have a place for that to happen. So, I created the Internet Friends Chat.
This is a slack group anyone can join and be a part of. I have plans with this to be more than just another Slack group, but for now here’s what channels I have created.
Animal Crossing - All things Animal Crossing
Automation - Share your automation tips and tricks including Shortcuts, Drafts actions, and more
Blogging - For all the other bloggers to share ideas, offer critiques, and more
Gaming - For when you play games other than Animal Crossing (not sure why, but okay)
General - Just a general chat about pretty much anything.
I plan to make more channels as the community grows, so if you want something added, let me know in the Slack.
Next week, once the dust is settled after the announcement, I will share with you all here my plans for the chat in the future. If you can’t wait until then, I am sure I will spill the beans on the Slack.
If you have any issues or questions, feel free to get a hold of me on Twitter @iamJeffPerry.
Chris buys the new iPad, and other items. They both speak about managing their calendars, time tracking, and what they are watching while in quarantine.
He speaks about the early days of Web 2.0 and how APIs were open and free. He also goes on about how these once open and free to use APIs were subsequently limited or removed altogether.
This 10:38 minute video summed up my feelings about the internet, APIs, and how the web today is slowly losing its whimsey. I thought I was going to leave this video upset, angry, and in my natural state of defeatism. Thankfully, Tom didn’t stop with the downfall.
And that’s why I chose to film this here. The White Cliffs of Dover are a symbol of Britain, they are this imposing barrier, but they’re just chalk. Time and tide will wash them away, a long time in the future. This, too, shall pass.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build things anyway. Just because something is going to break in the end, doesn’t mean that it can’t have an effect that lasts into the future. Joy. Wonder. Laughter. Hope. The world can be better because of what you built in the past.
And while I do think that the long-term goal of humanity should be to find a way to defeat entropy, I’m pretty sure no-one knows where to start on that problem just yet.
So until then: try and make sure the things you’re working on push us in the right direction. They don’t have to be big projects, they might just have an audience of one. And even if they don’t last: try to make sure they leave something positive behind. And yes, at some point, the code that’s updating the title of this video will break. Maybe I’ll fix it. Maybe I won’t. But that code was never the important part.
I have moved my blog around to different platforms as much as anyone. I landed at blot sometime in 2018, and I am very happy with the platform as it fits my style perfectly. With all the moves and migrations, my collection of posts has been degraded in various ways. Broken links, missing images, formatting weirdness, etc.
[…]
This project was mostly a manual process, with some automation sprinkled in where possible with tools like TextSoap.
So, what did I do? Here is a list of what I set out to accomplish
Another great read for anyone looking to move their blog. It should go without saying that it’s clearly a complicated process no one should take lightly. So enter at your own risk.
Contrary to what you might think after reading that headline, I am not a hater. Not at all. I have actually been a fan of John Gruber’s writing and podcasting for several years and I typically agree with his point of view regarding Apple and the tech world, in general. However, I can’t say that’s the case when it comes to the iPad.
It started with his rant about the state of the iPad when it turned 10, followed by his episode of The talk Show with Ben Thompson of Stratechery (who’s opinion on the iPad is even more out to lunch, in my opinion). The addition of multitasking to the iPad, or at least how it was added and how it works, has really gotten progressively under Gruber’s skin. If you listen to that episode he rants a lot more than in the article and Thompson gets all kinds of worked up about what a “tragedy” the iPad and iPadOS are. I finished that one just shaking my head.
I wrote about this article and podcast at the time because, as an iPad fan and power user, I am about as diametrically opposed to these opinions as you can get. While I understand the complaints over the complexity of multitasking in iPadOS as it stands today, I can’t get on board with throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Gruber makes it clear on several occasions that he thinks iPadOS is a dead-end mistake and that Apple has to roll it back completely to move forward. Here is one such quote from his 2019 Apple Grades. He gave the iPad a D, by the way.
[…]
I use my iPad Pro at work and I don’t need a glorified e-Reader with no multitasking there. I waited years for the device to grow into something that could produce content as well as it allowed you to consume it. I could see the potential as far back as the iPad 2, but it was slow going. I even left the iPad behind for a couple of years because it wasn’t moving fast enough in that direction. It was the iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil and the addition of real multitasking that brought me back.
Mr Gruber hasn’t stopped his complaining about the iPad and iPadOS with one article and a podcast episode. In his Polish Stink Eye podcast episode last week, he mentioned his distaste for iPadOS multitasking again when talking about the death of Apple legend Larry Tessler. Gruber also alluded to the fact that he’s been working on some longer pieces detailing his thoughts on the iPad. Oh boy. I can’t wait.
[…]
I am convinced that the belief that Apple should start over on a system that is obviously still evolving, or worse that Apple should just go back to the iPad’s original positioning as a third device, are on the fringe. I absolutely believe that most iPad users and fans want Apple to continue to improve and refine what they have in iPadOS and keep the power, rather than dial the platform back to make a small number Apple superfans happy.
That last part is why I am writing about John Gruber’s ongoing complaints about the iPad. While Apple tends to keep to itself, they do listen to some key influencers and John Gruber has been among them for years. Their words carry weight. You could tell that Apple took the tech press and Apple superfan criticism over the iPad’s lack of power features very seriously last year, as the feature rundown of the new iPadOS read like a wish list from the previous two years.
There are certain writers and podcasters, and if you are an Apple fan, you likely know who a few of them are, who can push an agenda and legitimately get Apple’s attention. A guy who can get Apple execs to come on his show obviously ranks very high on that list. However, in this case, I hope whoever is in ultimately in charge of the fate of the iPad and iPadOS development roadmap takes Gruber’s words on this topic and says thanks, but no thanks.
It’s one thing to offer constructive criticism. It’s quite another to advocate for Apple to tear down and fundamentally re-architect a platform that is still in the process of growing into a more powerful form, just because you don’t like where it is at the moment. As a fan of a more powerful iPad and iPadOS, I see John Gruber’s current mini-crusade against iPadOS as a problem. A threat, even. I can only hope it falls on deaf ears at Apple and they continue down the path they already have a solid start on.
[…]
(Note: After I finished writing, I saw that John Gruber’s guest on The Talk Show episode released today is Federico Viticci, who is a huge fan of the iPad and a well-known user and advocate for the platform. I won’t have time to listen tonight, but I am very interested to hear what he has to say about Gruber’s stance on iPad multitasking. Viticci comes off as a big fan of the feature in his own writing and podcasting, despite its complexity.)
It’s a rare time we live in where the number of individuals and small teams can have such a massive impact on the populous at large. The apps, systems, and tools that you build are touching lives more regularly that almost any other thing we interact with today as humans. These digital goods are so prevalent, yet hide in the shadows of microchips and circuit boards.
[…]
I can understand that this path you have chosen can feel thankless but please know that there are many of us out here that appreciate your hard work and dedication. Unfortunately, the perceived value of the work you are doing is being warped to an unsustainable level. Perhaps this is because of the faceless nature of your work, or the warped sense of values and entitlement in the world of technology.
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People do not go to a farmer’s market and comment about how great the peaches look and then ask why they are not free. I get so upset when someone shows genuine interest in a great app I am using and their first question is “What is it called?” immediately followed by “is it free?”. No, it isn’t 🤬 free. This mindset has to change. I can only hope I am helping in any small way with my daily interactions with people reminding them that there are people behind these products.
I couldn’t have written a better thank you letter if I tried.
Field Notes’ longstanding tagline is “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.” The line comes from co-founder Jim Coudal’s grandfather who was “an avid notetaker.”
I recently began thinking about my longstanding hobby of collecting and using Field Notes journals. I started using them back in college when I first learned about Field Notes’ other co-founder Aaron Draplin. I was obsessed with his work and loved his design portfolio. I never got into graphic design myself but I did learn a lot from Draplin through osmosis and watching his talks and tutorials over the years.
For whatever reason I decided to learn more about why Field Notes chose their tagline and I stumbled upon some really cool videos I wanted to share with you.
The first being from YouTube user Ekpap called “The Importance of Field Notes.” This was a video I thought surmised the essence of a Field Notes journal perfectly and what the tagline is all about. He then goes into generative note-taking and non-generative note-taking from a study from the University of California and University of Princeton called “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking.” If you want to read the paper itself you can do so here. They were also on NPR in 2016 explaining their paper as well.
I know this is a lot to throw at you but I promise that the video stands on its own two feet and is worth the 3 minutes to watch. That said, the paper itself is also fascinating to read.
The second video I wanted to share is from Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels. He is a podcaster, YouTuber, and blogger and he explained in his own video why he still uses paper notebooks over a digital notes app. He also saves all of his notebooks both physically and digitally by scanning them into his computer for safekeeping. It is very delightful to learn about his reasonings to keep a notebook on hand and use day-to-day as a tech-nerd like myself.
After watching both videos again I realized that the tagline is as close to perfect as you can get for them as a company. They aren’t making commemorative notebooks you need to be careful with, it is meant to be used every single day for every single thing that needs to be written down no matter what.
When I filled my first Field Notes journal I took out a brand new one of the same color and compared them side-by-side. The used one could barely stay closed because the papers had been manhandled so much that they would push on the covers. I also noticed that the old one was significantly dirtier. It was as if someone decided to throw a journal into a muddy puddle and then dried it with a hair-dryer. For some reason when I made these observations I made it my goal to make every notebook I finish look like a shell of its former self.
One big thing that I had trouble with when I used a medium-sized Moleskine journal for my note-taking was that I felt that I needed to have something witty or mind-blowing to say when I wrote in them. With my Field Notes I make the conscious choice that nothing is too important nor too insignificant to write down. I have things from ideas for my blog and podcasts in there as well as quick math problems I try and solve when working out my finances. Nothing about these notebooks are special and I fill every single page with something before I decide not to use it anymore.
In fact, I have given a number of my new Field Notes journals away to friends and colleagues and I always say to them my one rule: you fill them with your thoughts and ideas. It might be a little corny but I genuinely want them to use their new journal as much as possible. I want them to never have an idea that doesn’t get written down, even if it is a bad one.
So, if you haven’t already guessed, I want you to start thinking about getting yourself a pocket-sized journal to write down your thoughts and ideas because I think there is some real merit to the claims and discoveries mentioned in the articles and videos above. This isn’t sponsored by Field Notes in any way, nor would I allow this to be a crappy article saying to buy only Field Notes. I honestly don’t care if you buy Field Notes or a drug-store memo pad, I just want you to write things down, not to remember it later, but to remember it now.
“I understand it’s easy to keep watching videos,” the smiley guy said. “And trust me, I’ve been there before. But those videos will still be there tomorrow. Go get some extra sleep, turn your phone off, do yourself that favor, and have a great night.”
The guy was TikToker Gabe Erwin, who has two million followers on the platform, but the video wasn’t posted from his personal account. It came from @TikTokTips, which is run by the company itself. Three other high-profile creators, Alan Chikin Chow (722,200 followers), James Henry (2.7 million followers), and Cosette Rinab (1.6 million followers) – have also made videos encouraging people to turn off the app. (“When’s the last time you’ve been outside?” asks Rinab.)
