Accordance and Slide Over in iOS 11

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi,

 

I'm having a lot of difficulty opening Accordance and swiping from the bottom to access the Dock to drag a second App onto it. It takes up to ten swipes or more to access the Dock, and I can't tell why it works when it does. Then, when I tap back into Acc and swipe from the right to access the App, the same thing happens. What I get almost every time when I swipe from the bottom or side is something that looks like a flattened arrow head, instead of the Dock on the bottom or my App on the right.

 

The opposite is not true. If I open an App first, and then drag Accordance onto it, it works perfectly.

 

I've also tried the "different methods to add apps" at https://www.cultofmac.com/490710/slide-over-split-view-ios-11/. Nothing seems to work easily or consistently if I open Accordance first.

 

I have an iPad mini 2, Model A1489.

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

[Michel Gilbert]

I closed Accordance and shut the screen off, went downstairs for something, came back to check again, and it worked the first time - I opened Acc, then dragged PDF Expert to the right, tapped into Accordance, then swiped PDF Expert from the right, but after two taps back into Accordance, I had the same problem.

[R. Mansfield]

I don't work on the Accordance Mobile development team, so I can't say for certain. However, I believe it may be a conflict between the swipe gestures in the Accordance app and the new method for bringing up the dock. I have a friend who is a developer for another company tell me they're facing the same issue with their app. iOS will give initial priority to the app. When you swipe the first time, you will see a small up arrow at the bottom, which is for the system dock. You can grab that and bring the dock up. Although it's admittedly two moves, it's doing what it's supposed to in the situation. 

 

I've been using iOS 11 in beta form for a while. What I generally do is just double tap on the home button to bring in the full control view and dock all at once. There I can drag any icon from the dock onto Accordance. Just another method, of course, but you might find it easier. 

 

Whether or not the Accordance Mobile team will re-evaluate how swipe gestures work in the app is not for me to answer. One of them might chime in.

[Michel Gilbert]

. . .  When you swipe the first time, you will see a small up arrow at the bottom, which is for the system dock. You can grab that and bring the dock up. Although it's admittedly two moves, it's doing what it's supposed to in the situation.

 

Whether or not the Accordance Mobile team will re-evaluate how swipe gestures work in the app is not for me to answer. One of them might chime in.

 

Hi Rick,

 

I didn't know I could drag the arrows and bring up the Dock or an App. I thought I was probably missing something. Good to know.

 

However, the two moves to slide an App from the right defeats the purpose for what I'm trying to do. I wonder if Accordance would consider changing the behavior for left and right side swipes only? Since you only drag an App onto Accordance once in a while, the bottom swipe and drag for the Dock is perfectly acceptable.

 

Thanks, and regards,

 

Michel

[R. Mansfield]

Michel, I'm not following what you mean by sliding apps from the right. Of course, it may very well be that iOS 11 will do things I didn't realize it would do, but I don't understand what you mean. If you're referring to initiating slideover from the dock and then placing it on either the right or left of the screen, my iPad is doing that fine. But I am probably missing something in what you're describing.

[Michel Gilbert]

If I open Accordance, then open the Dock with the arrow, and slide PDF Expert to the right side, I can use PDF Expert in that small window, but to get back into Accordance, I have to tap into it, and PDF Expert disappears. When I want to use PDF Expert again, I have to slide it over from the right side, presently with two moves.

 

So, I mean it would be nice if we could use Slide Over with one move from either the left or right side, to access our preferred App.

 

I want to do this for rapid reading. I have my own gloss file, which is quickly becoming much more than that. Or, sometimes I want to read a Paleo-Hebrew Bible that is formatted in paragraphs. So I want to switch rapidly between Accordance and PDF Expert - as I read, I have to scroll down the PDF files. And since the Slide Over App is on top of the original one, you have to tap back into the original to keep using it.

 

I know there are others on the Forum who have been eagerly awaiting this function in iOS 11, to be able to open more windows/tabs while using Accordance.

[R. Mansfield]

Ah, so now we've both taught each other something about iOS 11 today, Michel :-)

 

So the extra step and the arrow on the sides or the bottom represent iOS 11 giving Accordance priority for the gesture. Changing that will be a call on the part of the Accordance Mobile, team, so we're back to leaving that decision to them. All I can safely say is that it's not a bug. Again, maybe one of them will respond, but it may also be too early in the release of iOS 11 for a decision like that to have been made. 

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi again,

 

Now that much has been cleared up, perhaps I should post one-swipe Slide Over as a Feature Request.

 

When I was first having difficulties, I noticed that when the Dock did appear it was when I swiped near the Home button. So, I guess now that I was catching the edge of the arrow sometimes. I also guessed, like you, that my difficulties had to do with Accordance split view, or whatever you call it when you drag that handle thing.

 

But, in landscape mode that handle is still on the bottom, not on either side. I don't know if Acc has a setting to place that handle on the left or right side in landscape mode. But even if it does, there is only one handle. The opposite side of the handle in landscape mode could be adapted to Slide Over in iOS 11. If it couldn't be made into a preference, for Accordance's split view handle on the left or right, and iOS's Slide Over on the opposite side, I would vote for the Acc handle on the left, and Slide Over on the right.

 

As it stands now, it is faster to hit the Home button and tap the icon for a second App dragged to the Dock, than it is to swipe twice with Slide Over.  

 

Regards,

 

Michel