The iOS 5 update allows for undocking or splitting the on-screen keyboard making the iPad easier for using while holding in two hands or to see more content. To undock, hold down on the keyboard hide button (lower-right corner) and select from the dialogue to undock or split. Hold-and-slide the same button to move around the screen.

The screen shots show my app, Dee Count, with the keyboard moved away from the bottom. If you return to using your bar-code scanner and eject later to type in text, your on-screen keyboard will return to where you last positioned it. To dock, hold down the keyboard button and select the dock dialogue.

I never liked the clamshell notebook computer design. It’s great for carrying from desk to desk, but worthless in the field (try holding and typing) and uncomfortable on an airplane. I don’t even like dragging one out at an airport. My iPad replaced my notebook computer. If I need to work away from the office, I use remote desktop software on the iPad to work on Windows programming. My biggest complaint is the screen resolution. It’s adequate, but crisper text would be better. Front-facing camera is another component many wanted, even if iPad pre-dated FaceTime by a few months.

The iPad needs some upgrades to make it a better business computer

• More memory. The current iPad is a little shy.
• Higher resolution screen. Crisper text improves reading enjoyment and graphic quality.
• SD card slot. Thin. The USB adapter covers other connections.
• Front-facing video camera. A back-side low-res camera might also be nice as a cheap bar code scanner or quick snap for documentation. Too cumbersome for photography.

Faster processing will also come with higher resolutions. It will be interesting to see if the next iPad update will include higher resolution. Increasing the resolution to 2048×1536 may happen, but it’s a tall order. That’s more pixels than the average desktop display. John Grubar of Daring Fireball makes some good arguments against a hi-res screen in the near future in “Cold Water on iPad2 Retina Display Hype”

Even if we need to wait another year, a hi-res screen would satisfy me at least until flexible displays for easy folding. By then, the clamshell computer will be a funny museum piece.

A few months ago someone asked me why her mobile device could automatically open an email attachment, but her desktop computer could not. Her desktop operating system (OS) told her the file type could not be recognized. The attachment is a document for a popular office suite created by the same company as her OS. Not only did the OS not understand the common document, it failed to point her to an available solution (a reader made by the same company.) This is not just a failing of the OS or software company, this is an embarrassment to the entire software world.

History

Long ago (4+ decades) smart people thought about how best to interface with computers. Resources were limited, but imaginations came in great supply. The GUI (Graphic User Interface) concept (see “History of the GUI” at Ars Technica) appeared in the 1960s. Other ideas were about software design (flexibility, maintainability, and extensibility) including other programming concepts. Key results included that users should not need understand computer technology.

Software should simplify tasks and deliver a positive user experience. Bring the user closer to their data. IBM lists seventeen design goals and David Hooker lists seven,  but I focus on four. The rest fall in line.

• Keep it simple, stupid (KISS.)
• High visual communication; no clutter.
• Maintain common actions; don’t surprise the user.
• Stay focused on the goal. Some problems are moving targets.

Adhering to these goals allows the consumer to reach their goal by using the best tool for the job. Consumers sometimes end up using software differently than intended, because the designer didn’t completely understand the problem or the problem changes over time. These four primary goals live on after the product is finished.

In the beginning (1980s,) personal computers achieved these goals, more or less. Technology was limited for better and worse. Computers limited in abilities made some tasks difficult, but tiny resources (memory and CPU) also kept software design in check. This forced programmers to focus on simple tasks. My favorite word processor born in the 1980s died in the early 1990s, even though new versions continue on like scary ghosts haunting the computer world. Today’s version has many more features, but doesn’t process words any better. And does it much slower on faster machines.

How Software Designers Have Failed

Today when I listen to common consumers, I hear more concern about technical aspects than about experience. Consumers argue about “gigabytes” and “gigahertz.” They are concerned about how to carry all their videos, pictures, and other creations around. They demand disk space and adapters. Consumers brag about the number of triangles per second their video card can push. What does the number matter if it results in poor video or terrible overall performance? They beg for features, some of which they rarely ever use or duplicate abilities in better performing products.

What’s wrong with this picture? A consumer should never need worry about x number of features, disk space, or how a file system works. The consumer should be more concerned about getting their work done using the best tool for each job.

Part of the problem is the explosion in hardware advancement during the 1990s leading to faster and cheaper processors, memory, and storage. Software designers are lazy. Without resource limitations, many programmers don’t worry about using too much memory or looking for more efficient algorithms. The mantra: computers have more than enough, just get the program done.

Marketers are lazy, too. It is much easier to market numbers: GHz, GBs, number of adapters on the hardware side, and x number of features or all-in-one solutions on the software side. You can’t put a number on experience.

Overall, the software world has gone backwards leading to cluttered products full of afterthought features, difficult to navigate menus, slow performance reducing our work flows and degrading our experiences.

Mobile Computer Revolution Failure

Advancement in tiny technology has given birth to phones more powerful than desktop computers of past decades. Like the computers of the 1980s and early 1990s, memory and processor power are (were) limited. This results in refined software.

However, many software designers misinterpret “maintain common actions” as familiarity. Some phones try using menus or actions like their PC cousins, but on a tiny screens resulting in clumsy operation. Many users happily navigate this familiar nightmare until they try another device that does it so much better. But the designers aren’t completely wrong about familiarity. Even worse is introducing something so radical that consumers run away.

Consumers don’t know what they want. It’s like the Simpsons episode where the car manufacturer asks Homer what he wants in the perfect car. Homer asks for bubble domes, fins, and multiple horns—more features—little about improving the driving experience. New ideas are unfamiliar, and too many changes turns into an Edsel.

More power for mobile devices leads to designers implementing the same failures of their desktop counterparts. Manufacturers market number of features, processor speeds, ports, and other bullet points meaningless to the experience. Like Homer Simpson, consumers demand features. And software designers deliver at the cost of usability.

Apple Inc products aren’t perfect, but the genius behind their design is in small iterations of familiar concepts while maintaining a focus on the user experience.

Software Design Back On Track

There are complaints about Apple controlling their App Store and holding developers inside a “walled garden,” but there is an advantage: it helps keep design on track. Design needs to get back to basics through education, collaboration, and putting the end user first.

Consumers have become so entrenched in poor design and feature creatures that great user experiences may take time. Here are my four tips to help achieve the four primary design goals:

• Assume resources are limited. And often are given a multitasking world.
• Solve one problem.
• Familiar buttons, icons, actions should stay familiar.
• Carefully consider new actions and visuals, collaborate with others to establish, and be willing to modify or abandon for other ideas.
• Work with other software to help the user create a work flow without the user having to understand file systems.
• Use, and love using, your own software. Then make it better.

A word processor should be amazingly good at its job, and not try to tackle the problem of laying out content for digital magazines or the web. A layout program should make arranging content for digital magazines amazingly simple, and not have to worry about editing photos or processing words. A person should be able to open an email attachment containing common, well established, data in the right solution without knowledge of the data file.

My dream is a software revolution bringing users closer to their data, opening a stream from imagination into reality. The same thing designers dreamed about in the ancient times (1950s.)

Kandy's lips (and fangs)

Kandy Fangs is a novella I’m sharing this Autumn in serialized fashion here on the blog. You may read the weekend updates by visiting Short Fiction-Kandy Fangs in the menu above. For the finished ebook, I wanted to try painting something.

I painted Kandy’s lips using Autodesk SketchBook Pro on my iPad using a Pogo Sketch stylus. I’m impressed with the application. At first I missed my paper and pencil, but after playing around with simple sketches it felt like drawing. Finding the right brushes for the job, I fell into painting by building color. Layers make some cool things possible, allow experimentation, or use a pencil-on-paper sketch as a base to paint over. Like Photoshop, layers support transparency.

Kandy's lips stage 1

I built up the image using layers: white background, a black mask, upper lip, lower lip, teeth, and the blood drip. Lips are on different layers because I wasn’t certain at first if I only wanted an upper lip. In stage 1 image we see the upper lip, black mask, and the beginning of teeth.

Wide paintbrushes create the lips. For highlights and between colors, I used a stippling pencil.

In the image below, we see the lower lip and coloring on the teeth. These aren’t my best teeth, but they fit the style of the overall image. At the end I added the blood drip building from darker to lighter reds shown in the top

Kandy's lips complete without blood

image. And yes, the blood curls around the fang like candy. I added a candy-blood stripe to the title in the same manner, but I imported the font as a bitmap.

I enjoy painting on the iPad and plan on doing more.

You want a working contents page in your ebook. Readers love them. Anything that improves navigation is good. Done properly, the Smashwords Meatgrinder will produce epub and PDF with working contents page linking to your chapters or parts. Software like Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks on iPad will allow the reader to jump to chapters in your book. Below are screen shots of my novel, Raven Memory in Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks. The iBooks contents work by scrolling. In addition, iBooks reveals how many pages remain in the chapter. Note: In my first revision of Raven Memory, I used flowing text between chapters, and my recent revision (Sep 3) uses chapter headers.

Screen shot of iBooks showing chapter and page feature. Touch chapter slider to reveal chapter info.

Adobe Digital Editions Screen Shot of Raven Memory 1st revision with chapters flowing together. No formatted headers.

iBooks on iPad Screen Shot scrolling contents page

The Quick Guide to Working Contents

• Follow Mark Coker’s Smashwords Style Guide exactly.

It’s that simple. Well, almost. The  Smashwords Meatgrinder is picky about formatting, and some issues may not be clear. Pay close attention to the entire guide. It doesn’t matter if you use Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org Writer, the directions for creating working contents links are the same.

About Chapter Headers

Coker’s guide mentions using header formatting for your chapter headers. This is optional, but a good idea if your book is long. Using headers tells Meatgrinder to create a new xhtml page for the epub which may render as chapter breaks in software like Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks. You may end up with a few nearly blank pages with only a sentence or two. Ugly, but preferable over the alternative. Without formatted headers the text flows, but Smashwords Meatgrinder will break longer works into segments which may cause page breaks in undesirable spots when reading epub. Format headers for chapters to avoid Meatgrinder choosing breaks for you in epub conversion. This doesn’t apply to PDF or online reading.

As seen in the Adobe Digital Editions screen capture above, my first revision of Raven Memory didn’t format the chapter headers allowing flowing text. Due to 3 abrupt page breaks in the epub, I revised using header formatting. Now Adobe Digital Editions produces one nearly blank page (depending on screen size,) but looks fine in iBooks. See the screen shot below. This is better than breaking between paragraphs, and epub readers may get better in the future at pushing text so there isn’t a single line left on a page. (Dear epub reader software creators: Learn how to flow text correctly.)

Tips on formatting with linking contents for your ebook

• Make sure the entire document has consistent formatting, paying close attention to the paragraph style name. If you use formatted chapter headers, they should also be consistent.
• Use Styles and Formatting sheet.
• Internal contents links work like external hyperlinks.
• Don’t use automation. Create your contents links by hand.
• Before uploaded to Smashwords, export to PDF and test every link.
• After uploading, test the PDF and the epub in Adobe Digital Editions. Click every link to make sure it goes to the correct place in your document.

My How-To: Create Contents Links Formatted for Smashwords

Save your contents page for last after you have made certain your entire document is formatted correctly. Heading styles are optional, but recommended for longer works. Edit your styles sheet for your body text and header. If you name your chapters starting with “Chapter” then Meatgrinder will make things easier. In Shadow Memories, I named each as the title of the short story. Still works as long as you make internal hyperlinks. See Step 20 in Coker’s guide.

Your table of contents should list each chapter single-spaced after the license information. No page numbers. The contents entry should be the same as the matching heading.

1. Go to each chapter heading and highlight the text.
2. (Optional, but recommended) Set the format to header using the same or similar font. (Remember to use style sheets.)
3. Use the Insert Bookmark feature. Name the bookmark matching the header, but without spaces.
4. After you named all the bookmarks matched to headers, go back to the contents page. Select each entry and use your Insert Hyperlink feature, select internal hyperlink and select the matching bookmark.

In your document, test each bookmark hyperlink. If you missed one or made a mistake, correct. Then export to PDF and test the links there. If it works in a PDF, and your book is formatted properly, it will work after going through the Meatgrinder.

Questions?

Screen shot of iBooks showing chapter break produced by using a header format for Smashwords

I have been giving WordPress 3.0 a try. Meanwhile, I’ve also taken the opportunity to update my site layout. I’m using the new default theme by Twenty Ten. The only changes I’ve made to this theme are coloring and a removing the text title in the header. What I like about Twenty Ten is the clean look. The footer widgets are nice, too.

WordPress 3.0 makes some basics easier on beginners. Bloggers no longer need to dig into the styles or edit php files to adjust header images or create menus.

Header and Background Images

Change the header image using a menu where several examples are available or upload an image of the correct dimensions (default uses 940 x 198 pixels.) The interface also allows uploading an image for the background set to repeat or single as I have done with the purple clouds and moon. I also took the opportunity to adjust my background image to fill an entire screen on the new iMacs for those crazy enough to widen their browser to the full 2560 pixels.

Some themes use thumbnail images and Twenty Ten uses “featured” images. The featured image must be the same size as the header (940 x 198 default) set on the post page. I made a couple featured header images on my Dunston Monster posts and my BIO page.

Navigation Menus

One of the best new features is the default menu which the administrator may customize including drop-down menus based on page parenting. It’s pretty easy to add a menu item for a category as I have done for “Featured” and “Stories.” I will add a “Books” menu later once my books are ready. Changing the order of menu items works like on widgets. Menus may also work in widgets on the sidebar. Some themes support more than one customized menu.

Content Management System (CMS)

Besides pages and posts, custom content types may be added. This will make it easier to use WordPress for an entire website which may not even include a blog. Custom types may be videos with reviews or widgets to sell.

Read about all the new features on Version 3.0

Is the iPad magical? That depends on your definition of magic. Revolutionary? Maybe, maybe not. In under two months, over two million units have sold beating expectations. Why? The iPad is not for Apple “fanboys” or “techies.” The iPad is what computers should strive to be, a device that brings the user closer to their data.

User Case: Non-Techie

I showed a book lover an iPad. At first she almost seemed skeptical. She doesn’t get along with computers. Gizmos never impress her. Copying a file between drives is an advanced concept. After a few minutes, she warmed up to the device—a little. A couple weeks later she put the iPad through a full test.

After a few days, she had purchased books and installed a couple apps. Then she went on a trip. She had no trouble connecting to wi-fi networks at airports or homes of relatives. Not only did she read several books, but she took notes, imported photos, added pictures to her contacts, e-mail, and more! On her return, she showed me a funny YouTube video and had no trouble bringing it back up—a process she’s not as familiar with on other computers. Just a couple taps and we were watching it.

After just two weeks, this person—a technology hater—uses the iPad extensively. She now uses Mail on iPad instead of accessing her e-mail on the desktop computer. Why? Mail for iPad is so much easier. She wants more applications on the iPad, ones that helps her get work done.

Some Questions for Software Engineers and Designers

• Why does MS Windows make it so difficult to connect to a wireless network?
• Why are so many applications cluttered with buttons, menus, bells-and-whistles, many of which never get used?
• Why are users more concerned about file systems and CPU stats than using their data?
• Why do so many basic applications consume so much memory and run slow?
• Why do computers still use the same design; file systems, windows concept, a mouse since the 1960s?
• Why is your OS or application hard to use?

Software engineers and designers: Are you paying attention?

Evolution

We are at a major transition point in computer evolution. Users want to get closer to their data and work more efficiently. Let’s move away from the large applications that try to do everything and come up short, and move to applications that do a few things very well. And let’s get things done on computers that are easier to use. The iPad sales show that consumers are ready for the transition. The iPad may not be the future, but it marks the a step in the evolution of the computer.

Is the iPad magical? You bet your butt it is.

Hear the origins of the iPad from Steve Jobs on this D8 video.

B&N eReader for iPad screen shot

Barnes and Noble released their eReader for iPad a few days ago. Similar to the Kindle Reader, B&N eReader uses Safari to find and purchase books. Only books purchased from B&N are available on supported devices. Even though eReader uses the ePub format, there is no support for reading DRM-free ePub books from other sources. Which is fine since iBooks allows this. B&N eReader covers the basics including text search, bookmarking, and built-in dictionary. The table of contents is a nice looking pop-up. Where the eReader excels is in thematic presentation allowing shades of colors for when black-on-white might be too much contrast. There is also a button for publisher’s choice theme keeping the presentation closer to the intended look, or a “Night Light” which uses a black background to keep the light level low. Missing is a built-in brightness adjustment as in iBooks, but the themes nearly make up for it. The big feature B&N supports is book lending, but not all books are available for lending.

I like the B&N eReader over Kindle Reader. Choosing between iBooks and B&N will likely depend on availability and price of the book. That’s the best part: choice. With several book readers and a huge selection of books, the iPad is looking like one darn good reading device.

See the review on Gizmodo.

As I noted in my previous post, “Why iPad,” the goal of computer design is to allow users to interact with their data without the burden of understanding the underlying system. In the last 3o years we have spent energy moving away from this goal. Many users have accumulated technical knowledge allowing them to perform simple tasks. Other users still struggle with their computer. The file system is one of the technical aspects of a computer most users have learned to some degree (and most people still don’t understand it.)

Since the iPad announcement many have made statements such as: The iPad storage is too small for all my files. How do I move my files without a USB connection? Using iTunes to sync files is ridiculous! These statements manifest from a file-oriented design. Users become more concerned about their files than the data the files hold.

The iPad uses a task-oriented philosophy. The goal is to bring the user closer to their data and not worry about files. For all those still uncertain what a gigabyte is or how to copy a file: rejoice! The iPad is for you. For the rest of us, we may need to build a bridge between file-oriented design and task-oriented thinking.

The Problem

Screenshot of iTunes Apps tab

The iPad is all about the applications. (No, this isn’t the problem. It’s a good thing.) Each application has its own storage space for user generated data (or photos library.) For many tasks, this is not a big deal. Just like on the PC, we don’t really care about the Twitter cache files, e-mail header files, or special settings storage. We do care about the spreadsheet data, the family vacation photo, and the story draft. We don’t truly care about the files that contain our data, but sometimes we must deal with them (for now.)

The Basic Solutions

iTunes is great for syncing music, photos, and some videos. It also provides back-up for your iPad. Some applications allow access to documents from within iTunes as a convenience. This is not a great solution, but an option if there is no other way. You may also e-mail the file to yourself. Seems silly, but it is no different than using a flash drive to sneaker-net between devices.

Better solutions include using MobileMe with iDisk or some other sharing service in the cloud. iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) can share documents with iWork.com (beta.) Google Docs is another solution where your files stay in the cloud.

Another service is Dropbox.com which syncs your common documents with all your computers. Currently, Dropbox only provides viewing on iPhone or iPad. Opening in other iPad apps is coming soon using Document Sharing.

Document Sharing

Screenshot of iPad Mail Open In selection

This is a new feature in iPhone OS available on the iPad with apps like Mail, GoodReader, and Air Sharing Pro. If another app on the iPad supports the document, the Document Sharing supported app will provide a button to open in the other app. It works by creating a link and opening the other app which copies the document into its own storage space. You may notice an e-mail attachment with a Pages icon as seen in the screenshot.

Some might say document sharing is a “bandage” for the sandbox design of iPhone OS, but it supports task-oriented philosophy. Choosing the best tool for the job sometimes requires using multiple applications. Edit a document in one app then pass it on to another. Document sharing is about task-oriented work.

Screenshot of GoodReader file selection

File Utilities Solution

A file utility using document sharing builds a bridge connecting your file-oriented lifestyle with your task-oriented world. GoodReader and Air Sharing Pro support document sharing bringing common formats to your iPad from your e-mail, your desktop computer, Google Docs, Dropbox, MobileMe, or some other remote server. Until other apps begin using Document Sharing, one of these apps may be your good friend.

Let’s say you have a story in Word that you need to work on while traveling. Use GoodReader to connect with your desktop and just drag-drop files! Using GoodReader, “Open In…” to send your Word document to Pages so you can edit on the go! Back from traveling? The current version of Pages doesn’t share, but you may use iWork.com or e-mail the document back (to iPad in GoodReader or to desktop.)

As you might have noticed, you can also use GoodReader or Air Sharing to turn your iPad into a storage device to carry documents around. (But that’s file-oriented thinking!)

Remote Desktop Solution

Screenshot iPad RPD to Windows (click to enlarge)

If you have internet access, you can connect to your desktop at work or home and run programs as if you are there. No file copying and run any application. Apps like Desktop Connect and iTap will connect your iPad to another computer using RDP (Windows machines) or VNC (Linux or Mac.)

Wrap-up

Once Document Sharing becomes common, the iPad will support better workflows across multiple applications and sharing in the cloud or on other computers. Many tasks don’t require file management. When it becomes necessary to access documents outside of the iPad, choose the best method for your task and available resources.

[Update: Dropbox supports iPad Document Sharing. Here is the Mashable post.]

If you’re new to digital books or have a shiny new digital book reader, you may be wondering where to find books. Some stores use DRM that may limit the book to a device, while others sell DRM-free books allowing you transfer the book to a new device. Below are some quick lists to help get you started.

eBook Stores

• iBookstore for iPad
• Amazon using Kindle software
• Barnes & Noble using nook or B&N reader
• O’Reilly [technical, DRM-free]
• Smashwords [some free, DRM-free]
• Feedbooks [many free, DRM-free]
• Project Gutenberg [free, DRM-free]

The iBookstore provides searching Project Gutenberg, but if you are shopping elsewhere you may find it easier to download an ePub using your PC then import the book using iTunes same as a song.

iPad reading software

• iBooks (need to add, not included out of the box)
• Kindle for iPad
• GoodReader for PDF and MS Office documents.

iPhone / iPod Touch reading software

• Kindle for iPhone
• Stanza
• GoodReader
• Barnes & Noble

Android reading software

• Aldiko

PC reading software

• Adobe Digital Editions

Digital Reading

Until recently, I considered myself a traditional reader especially with technical books. I preferred using the physical book, marking pages and quickly flipping through to find something. PDF documents on the PC are difficult to work with, and many eBooks on the PC aren’t much better with the ability to search as the only benefit. Searching usually just jumps through the document, but the iBooks search reveals a list of results showing surrounded context. Some of my technical books are full of sticky notes, many of which I’ve forgotten their purpose for being there and end up checking each one. Digital readers make bookmarking cleaner.

The iPad using iBooks and GoodReader has changed my opinion. The iBooks bookmarking tool is handy. I highlight as much text to give me enough information, a reminder that may be all I need in a pinch. If I need to read more, I can jump to the page. Devices like Kindle and iPad allow the reader to hold and carry the device like a book, even leaf through pages. Even better, I can now carry my 1,500 page technical book around without breaking my back. Another great bonus: some technical eBooks get updates downloaded straight to my reader. No need to visit the web for corrections.

The pages of my favorite book has turned yellow and the spine is falling apart. I read it too much. When I replace it, I will get the eBook.