
The iPad's new cursor and keyboard - ArmandGrillet
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/06/how-apple-reinvented-the-cursor-for-ipad/
======
banana_giraffe
Having used the iPad with a mouse and now a trackpad for a while, I've got to
say I don't like the mouse cursor turning into the button. It feels like the
cursor gets "trapped" in the button, and often I can lose track of which
button has focus since the hint can be rather subtle on some buttons.

Mostly, I just want a normal mouse cursor.

Of course, Apple isn't designing for a user like me, though, I'm really not
sure what user they've designed this mouse cursor for.

~~~
valine
You can turn off that behavior in accessibility settings, then it behaves like
a normal mouse.

~~~
john_minsk
It is interesting how Apple's accessibility menu is growing to control so many
aspects of UI. I still have this notion that "accessibility" are mostly
settings for people with special needs, not with different UI preferences

~~~
jasonjayr
I'm not sure if it's deliberate or not, but it seems like a subtle way of
reducing the stigma of standing out when needing accessible accommodations to
work effectively with computers. Keeping tweaks to UI behaviors to accommodate
ways folks have to work along side with ways folks _like_ to work blends them
all together.

~~~
gowld
It's not "political", it's devs realizing that real humans have different
interface needs. We're all "disabled" from the point of view of a computer:
computers have no need for silly mouse and keyboard and monitor for getting
work done.

~~~
sneak
All art is political, it turns out.

------
chrismorgan
This article uses a number of enormous GIFs instead of videos. Please don’t
ever do that. They’re drastically wasteful of bandwidth (16MB should have been
much less), ignore the user’s “don’t autoplay videos” preference, yield lower
quality results, and load extremely badly.

~~~
christoph
It also completely hijacks the back button on iOS Safari for me. It’s
impossible to leave the site by pressing back or swiping.

~~~
wmwragg
Yeah, you have to long press on the back button and then select the previous
site from the history dropdown. I hate sites like this, and actively avoid
them

~~~
iainmerrick
This has been annoying me too. I’ll definitely be avoiding TechCrunch now.

What I don’t understand is, what exactly are they trying to do? Is this just a
bug, and it’s only supposed to hijack the back button once? I can see
(reluctantly) how a single hijack might nudge users to stick around longer,
but surely there’s no upside to infinite hijacking...?

~~~
lazyjones
> _what exactly are they trying to do? Is this just a bug_

It might be important for SEO:

 _It assesses the number of people who leave your page by hitting the back
button to return to the search listing page. If Google sends 1,000 people to
one of your web pages and each of those 1,000 people hit the back button
within a few seconds, it tells Google your web page isn’t relevant._

[https://www.quicksprout.com/ranking-
factors/](https://www.quicksprout.com/ranking-factors/)

~~~
iainmerrick
Ugh, that’s nasty!

Sounds plausible, though.

------
poglet
I've been using a mouse on my 2016 iPad 9.7" iPad for a few days now. Here are
my thoughts:

\- Anything related to selecting or copying text is improved, including web
browsing.

\- Sometimes right click brings up context menus and sometimes 'long left
click' brings up context menus. Sometimes both work but with different
options.

\- I would like to change the cursor to an arrow pointer.

\- I would like to change the scrolling direction (it's the opposite of
Windows).

\- Scrolling doesn't feel smooth, many people report different scrolling
issues.

\- You can assign different actions to different mouse buttons, this has made
multitasking more efficient for me.

~~~
wayneftw
I don’t think you will ever be able to change the cursor to an arrow pointer
because Apple is more interested in being different than they are interested
in being useful.

This became very clear to me when I realized that you have not ever been able
to even change the color of the pointer in macOS, nevermind the shape. I
wanted it to be white so it would stand out more. Apple doesn’t care - they
are too busy projecting style to care about users petty practical needs.

~~~
gnicholas
I remember doing this with ResEdit, on Mac OS 9. Not sure if it was ever
possible on OSX

~~~
xoa
Don't think there was ever a setting for changing color and cursor shape
native in macOS (though size and such is in Accessibility), but it's always
been possible by digging into the system a bit (just like all the icons are
simply .icns bundles in
/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/ and can be
easily replaced to change the mediocre current icons with better ones). There
have long since been many 3rd party utilities to make it easier/more
automated, though some of them seem to have gotten abandoned. Here's an open
source one called Mousecape if you're curious for example, but you have to
fork it and remove the sparkle framework to make it work in 10.15:

[https://github.com/alexzielenski/Mousecape](https://github.com/alexzielenski/Mousecape)

There's various commercial pointer modification utilities, as well as simpler
highlighter-effect ones like Mouseposé and Pinpoint.

Theming on macOS was a big awesome thing at one point, kind of too bad it
seems to have fallen away a bit (in part because Apple's new security efforts
have made it ever more work). At least it's still doable though.

------
gouggoug
Unrelated to the post, but related to TechCrunch: is there a way for me to
prevent them from hijacking my back button? There’s nothing more frustrating
than clicking back to go to my previous page, only to be redirected to the
same exact page I already am on.

~~~
manigandham
They ruined this site with the automatic “smooth” navigation to other stories
and the homepage. I don’t know anyone who likes it.

~~~
applecrazy
I don’t think it’s designed with us users in mind. It’s likely designed that
way so they can boost story views (which allows them to sell more ads)

------
anhner
"The iPad is the most versatile computer that Apple makes" ??

Bro, I can't even run extensions in my browser. Not to mention the other
things you can only do on a real computer. It brings nothing except for touch,
but loses a lot of things.

~~~
ChrisRR
It's an odd statement. It's literally less versatile than a laptop or desktop
because you can do much more on a laptop without being locked down

------
mmastrac
The nice thing about the "linear" spaces on MacOS and Windows is that in the
vast majority of cases there's a 1:1 mapping between the pixels on the screen
and the UI elements.

What makes me nervous is when they start making the pointer space non-linear.
Is there a risk that you just can't get the cursor to activate a part of the
screen because it keeps getting sucked into a nearby control? Or is the
pointer space just a reversibly-warped version of the screen space?

~~~
ricardobeat
Most likely the Human Interface Guidelines that Apple enforces for all of
their software is a major enabler for this, as it mandates minimum touch areas
and spacing that should eliminate that type of issues. No other platform has
as much native UI adoption - used to be the case for Mac too until Electron
and others came along.

~~~
Nition
Do minor platforms count? I suspect Sailfish has higher native UI adoption.
IIRC back when I had a Sailfish phone, all the apps I used including the
third-party ones used the same standard UI elements.

~~~
thomashobohm
They probably meant out of the platforms Apple competes with. Presumably I
could find a platform with, say, 12 users and only 1 non-native app, and if
that app followed native UI guidelines I could say it has 100% native UI
adoption and thus the “highest” out of every platform ever, but that is a
useless statement.

------
mirroregami
My only gripe with the smart keyboard is the touchpad uses a mechanical button
for clicking. It feels clunky compared to the crispness of the last few mbp
generations which use a haptic electromechanical component to (perfectly)
simulate a click feel.

~~~
joegahona
Wow. This so perfectly simulated a click feel for me that I didn't even know
this was a fake click until reading your comment.

~~~
rayiner
I’ve known it’s fake for years, and I still feel like it’s moving.

~~~
renewiltord
Right? It's a masterpiece in design. I know, I look, and I still feel the
movement of a click. How?!

------
itsajoke
Although like many I probably would prefer a traditional cursor, I appreciate
that people are exploring the possibilities of the space. I hate change for
its own sake. But there are so many choices that go into graphical user
interface design. Even if we've hit a local maxima, I don't think we've hit on
the best paradigm. We've only been at this for ~60 years or so. Not to mention
the personal preference that goes into this. Keep exploring! Keep
experimenting! (Just please don't force me to change how I use my computer
against my will.)

------
partiallypro
I don't think this (meaning the cursor) is "reinventing" anything, it's
actually a work around because the iOS UX doesn't have good non-touch
affordances. It will be dumbed down over time, and apparently you can turn it
off.

~~~
bitwize
Android devices, with a mouse or trackpad connected (e.g., Asus Transformer
series), have shown an alpha-blended disc instead of an arrow pointer since
forever ago, so not even that bit is an Apple innovation.

~~~
gowld
Custom cursors have been in OSes for decades.

------
soinus
I just have to chime in on this. While I don't use the mouse with an iPad on a
daily basis, I have found a new use for it yesterday.

Once every <insert-some-time-frame> I start missing games and decide to play
something. I have a dedicated relatively powerful PC for that. What I have
recently found out is that I can play XCOM2 on my PC through my iPad with
Steam link. The experience was good enough out of the box but the way the
cursor was controlled through an iPad screen felt a bit out of place.

Yesterday, I suddenly realized that I can use a Bluetooth mouse with my iPad
and holy crap, the experience is like playing on the PC but I am not attached
to the desk! There is only one minor issue of not being able to move the mouse
to the bottom of the screen without triggering the applications bar, but this
was not too annoying.

Not sure how important this is to anyone, but I was amazed that I could do
this.

~~~
busymom0
> not being able to move the mouse to the bottom of the screen without
> triggering the applications bar

Is it possible to fix that by using the method described here? (start at 1:10
mark):

[https://youtu.be/7dxLcr68lLc?t=71](https://youtu.be/7dxLcr68lLc?t=71)

~~~
soinus
Oh my! This is amazing! It is exactly what I need to fulfill the picture!

To those, who can't or don't want to watch the video: you can configure iPad
to lock you in a single app and unlock with either biometric or pin entry.
This is available in the accessibility settings.

~~~
busymom0
I think this is what a lot of those restaurants like Sushi places use on their
iPads.

------
5cott0
Article is an editorial content advertisement.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Breathlessly worded and everything as well, I mean, nobody in tech would
genuinely describe a fucking cursor on screen as "This stir fry of path
prediction, animation, physics and fun seasoning is all cooked into a dish
that does its best to replicate the feel of something we do without thinking:
reaching out and touching something directly." That's lifted straight out of
an Apple ad. Unapologetically plastic.

------
zeoshillo
This was btw invented in Finland by the failed kickstarter project, the Solu
computer:

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-
br...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-breed-of-
computing)

For people understanding finnish, this podcast tells the whole story:

[https://areena.yle.fi/audio/1-50499091](https://areena.yle.fi/audio/1-50499091)

~~~
hedora
Too bad they failed. I want one.

------
dade_
The new cursor is like being handed a jumbo marker when you are used to a fine
point pen. I've been using iPads since the second one came out and I think
Apple is just as confused about making a mobile interface into a desktop as
Microsoft has been making a desktop interface into mobile. The iPad has never
been more powerful, confusing and unintuitive.

------
mikelward
Reminds me of Android's "Show Taps" option in developer settings. Albeit with
much more physics and animation.

~~~
zozbot234
It's sad that this is a hidden option; I can't imagine using a capacitive
touchscreen that _didn 't_ do this. The instant feedback on an input channel
as fiddly as that is simply invaluable.

------
WhyNotHugo
Link redirects me to `guce.advertising.com`, which my adblock blocks. If I
unblock it, it redirects to yahoo, where I have to agree with YAHOO's terms of
use, and only after agreeing I'm taken to techcrunch's home page.

When did the web become such an unusable place?

~~~
dcwca
You’ve got a point here about the complexity of the web or maybe advertising
models, but it’s hard to criticize usability when you have installed a browser
plugin that breaks it. Use the thing or don’t, but don’t complain when your
own reassembly of the product doesn’t work.

~~~
WhyNotHugo
The web is a lot more unusable WITHOUT adblockers.

In any case, even disabling the adblocker resulted in multiple redirects and
having to accept multiple privacy policies before seeing the article.

------
kbumsik
Slightly off-topic but I glad that the article mentions "Mother of all demos"
[1]

I watched this for the first time last year and I was shocked - Douglas
Engelbart demonstrated what happens after 50 years. The mouse is the least
amazing one but the demo featured real-time video conferencing and Google
Docs-like real-time word editor with shared mouse pointers.

It is hard to believe it's 1968 and he actually implemented them 50 years
ahead.

[1] [https://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY](https://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY)

------
tosh
Now that I’m using the trackpad on the iPad for a bit I wish websites also had
a way to make the cursor behave like this.

Maybe it could use role=“button” as hint?

~~~
tsar9x
Hopefully Apple patented it and I won't see it on websites, normal cursor
works fine.

------
wodenokoto
I haven't tried the mouse/trackpad on the ipad, but it looks really fun to
use. Kind remind me of how much fun, simply scrolling on the iPhone was, back
when it was released.

I am not, however, investing over 1.000 USD just to play with it. Has anyone
build a demo I can play with from a laptop?

Also, I wish the bubble would deform when entering and exiting an icon.

~~~
tosh
@ USD 1000:

you can try this with a bluetooth mouse using any iPad that supports iPad OS

(you don’t need an iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard w/ Touchbar)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPadOS](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPadOS)

~~~
ascagnel_
I've been using a BT keyboard & mouse (Logitech Keys & MX Master 3) with my
iPad since they announced the proper mouse support. Combined with the USB-C to
HDMI multi-port adapter (which provides a USB-C pass-through port, USB-A port,
and an HDMI port), it's close to using a desktop.

I'm used to coding over a terminal, so I use the app Blink Shell to do
anything like that since it fully supports external displays (most apps and
the iPad interface will display windowboxed). Blink is open-source, and they
provide instructions on their github repo, but you can also fund the project
by buying it via the App Store.

~~~
tosh
Blink is great, can highly recommend as well

------
Lammy
Unrelated to the actual article but the animated headline/hero image nauseates
me. It's such a huge and inappropriate area for animation in general much less
a choppy loop of a glaring bright iPad screen.

------
notum
Jesus. It's a dot, not a fusion reactor.

------
amelius
Can't Apple throw more money at revolutionary stuff rather than at
evolutionary stuff that already works just fine?

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JustFinishedBSG
I can't even click the link, it's going through an advertising netwok, and is
blocked by my DNS

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joeberon
Absolutely atrocious writing

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Disagree. Perhaps not your style.

------
_pmf_
I get angry just watching it.

------
glram
I think this is another sign that iOS/iPad OS and Mac OS are converging. If I
had to guess, once Apple adopts ARM processors for the Mac, there won't be
much of a distinction between the two.

