Jump to content

Askew


Anon

Recommended Posts

When reading on iOS, a quick tap on the screen calls up th header and footer. It should call up instant details, as it should be as the name entails instant. Calling up the header and footer should be the long tag, and instant details the short.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I can answer this (or at least explain), as I am part of the iOS team.

 

Accordance's move to mobile devices meant we needed to take into account common practices on them, as well as common practices in Accordance on a computer. Many people are used to reading books on Kindle, iBooks, and Nook applications. Most of those apps use a quick tap to call up navigation bars, which is why we decided do so as well. That's a quick tap anywhere on the screen, by the way, not just on a single word.

 

Requiring a long tap on a word for Instant Details is also an accommodation to iDevices' touch interface. Many different gestures (scrolling, swiping, etc.) mean touching one or more words in the process. We felt it would be inconvenient to have Instant Details pop up every time a user touched the screen.

 

Our solution? The long tap!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dr J — I appreciate the consistency. We learn to do so many things automatically that making gestures consistent across apps in iOS (and keyboard shortcuts consistent in Mac OS) becomes very important and eliminates a lot of delays and frustration for the user. Keep up the good work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see the reasoning behind it. I am not convinced it's the best behavior, however, for the two reasons. The first reason is due to the amount of Users who have no prior Accordance Mac OS X experience. To them, they have no expectation. The second, and more important as a foundational assumption to iOS programming, is that iOS device is not a Mac device (hence the reason our Mac's don't have touch screens). Touch actions are not the same as mouse clicks, and the description above casts a tap on a screen as a mouse click. I disagree. When I am reading (which I confess: I suspect 80-90% of iAccord users do most with the app) I 10/1 want instant details rather than the header and footer. Thus, it's a hinderance.

 

As far as adducing Kindle, iBooks, and other reading apps, I don't see their behavior mimicking iAccord or vice versa. First is that neither Kindle or iBooks have a popup details box, so similarity to actions are of course going to have to take into account difference in content.

 

Kindle: short tap on hyperlink, takes me immediately to hyperlink contents (doesn't call up header and footer). Tap in middle, calls up header and footer. Tap on right side, advance one page to right; tap on left, go back one page to left.

 

iBooks: short tap on hyperlink, takes me immediately to hyperlink contents (doesn't call up header and footer).

 

Other Bible Software (2 tested): each of these programs give the user immediate access to what is hyperlinked with a short tap.

 

While I appreciate the desire to keep things synchronized between the Mac Accordance and iOS Accordance, it seems like this truncates innovation of what the iOS offers as a reading platform.

 

Thanks for the iOS teams work in bringing Accordance to iOS.

Edited by J. T.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hyperlinks are different than word selection. Taps on hyperlinks immediately show the instant details view. Word selection is different, hence the different default gesture.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi J.T.

in iBooks at least, there is a sort of instant details when you tap a word and hold it. It allows you to select to define, or highlight or search. So it's not actually that different to iAccord (IMHO). And a tap on a word (rather than a link) reveals the navigation bars.

Edited by Ken Simpson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gestures as they are do seem to be the standard on iOS.

As others said, tapping a link is not the same as selecting a word to amplify it. Holding on a word to get a popup is VERY common in iOS apps.

 

I do see how it's a pain if you're reading along and are wanting to look up instant details on several words with great frequency as you read. That IS a limitation, for sure, but a limitation of the medium as a whole, it seems to me (seeing multiple windows at once).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...