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Pages for iPad and iPhone
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thomqi 
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- Group: Members
- Posts: 111
- Joined: 07-February 10
Posted 08 June 2011 - 08:25 PM
"Quite simply, getting your documents from where they are to where you want them is too difficult to be worthwhile. …as of now Pages still remains impractical for real work."
—Jeffery Battersby
I agree, I'd certainly like it to be simpler. I believe that's because I'm no fan of file systems. I'm seriously looking forward to iCloud.
However, what you complain about is typical of USB thumb drives, too. With either a thumb drive or an iOS device, you plug them in, open a window, navigate to the folder and grab/insert the document. I'll detail it more:
USB thumb drive:
1. Plug it in to the computer.
2. Open a Finder window.
3. Either select the thumb drive in the side of the Finder window (Finder preferences, Sidebar, "External disks" under Devices),
or select the Computer in the sidebar (Finder preferences, Sidebar, name of computer under Devices) and then choose the thumb drive in the window.
4. Navigate to a suitable place, such as a folder or top level.
5. Grab a document out of it, or insert a document into it.
iOS device:
1. Plug it in to the computer.
2. Open iTunes.
3. Select the iOS device in the side of the iTunes window. (It's always there, no preference setting necessary beforehand.)
4. Choose "Apps" tab at top, then the app at the bottom of that section.
5. Grab a document out of it, or insert a document into it.
Admittedly, there are couple shortcuts for the USB thumb drive if you allow external disks to appear on the Desktop (Finder preferences, General, show external disks).
• Double-clicking the icon for the thumb drive on the Desktop opens a Finder window with the contents of the thumb drive, no need to navigate.
• If you want to only insert a document, and at the top level of the thumb drive, simply drag it onto the icon for the thumb drive on the Desktop.
Digging out a document doesn't really get any easier, though keeping it top level helps a little. Of course, if you don't have external disks, hard disks, or the computer appear on the Desktop or in the side of Finder windows, and don't know you need to have that, then you probably won't get anywhere. (Yes, there are people who don't know what to do even if those are visible simply because they don't know what to look for. I know some, and they are very nice people; not all of them have lived history.)
For the iOS devices, a step is saved if iTunes is already open. Interestingly, if the iOS device is already tethered (perhaps charging while using it), then that saves steps that can't be saved with a thumb drive since a thumb drive would have to be removed and plugged into another device.
So, I'd say they aren't significantly different in effort, an effort that comes with separate devices that must be physically connected. Shifting to wireless doesn't necessarily remove any steps (e.g. Lion's AirDrop between computers), but automating the transfer can reduce steps (e.g. iCloud between iOS devices and computers). Eliminating the mixing of various kinds of documents can also help navigation, such as with docs stored per app as with mail messages in mail apps, or Pages documents with Pages. You won't get that with a thumb drive since it depends on an "exclusive" (AOT inclusive) file system often associated with hardware, e.g. software expecting a folder of a specific name so it'll ignore everything else, like cameras or the iPad Camera Connection Kit.
Anyways, it sounds like you're experiencing a variation of the "thumb-drive blues". As you say, a few months and it ought to be a little different with iCloud. Even though it won't depend on a physical connection, you'll still need to ensure the iOS is connected to a network (wirelessly) and has finished receiving the push. That might not happen at all if the app or document isn't closed, or whatever the trigger for autosaving. IOW, changes aren't instant, they are time-shifted (temporal) because of the trigger action needed before push; and couldn't ever be instant not so much for the distance (spatial) between devices but because of the devices (plural) not being one and the same device (singular).
What I'm saying is it won't necessarily be better, just something different. It'll probably be preferably while the prior experiences (e.g. thumb drives, floppy drives, emailed files) are remembered, and then complained about later once the past is forgotten or not experienced (next generation). Here we go again…
—Jeffery Battersby
I agree, I'd certainly like it to be simpler. I believe that's because I'm no fan of file systems. I'm seriously looking forward to iCloud.
However, what you complain about is typical of USB thumb drives, too. With either a thumb drive or an iOS device, you plug them in, open a window, navigate to the folder and grab/insert the document. I'll detail it more:
USB thumb drive:
1. Plug it in to the computer.
2. Open a Finder window.
3. Either select the thumb drive in the side of the Finder window (Finder preferences, Sidebar, "External disks" under Devices),
or select the Computer in the sidebar (Finder preferences, Sidebar, name of computer under Devices) and then choose the thumb drive in the window.
4. Navigate to a suitable place, such as a folder or top level.
5. Grab a document out of it, or insert a document into it.
iOS device:
1. Plug it in to the computer.
2. Open iTunes.
3. Select the iOS device in the side of the iTunes window. (It's always there, no preference setting necessary beforehand.)
4. Choose "Apps" tab at top, then the app at the bottom of that section.
5. Grab a document out of it, or insert a document into it.
Admittedly, there are couple shortcuts for the USB thumb drive if you allow external disks to appear on the Desktop (Finder preferences, General, show external disks).
• Double-clicking the icon for the thumb drive on the Desktop opens a Finder window with the contents of the thumb drive, no need to navigate.
• If you want to only insert a document, and at the top level of the thumb drive, simply drag it onto the icon for the thumb drive on the Desktop.
Digging out a document doesn't really get any easier, though keeping it top level helps a little. Of course, if you don't have external disks, hard disks, or the computer appear on the Desktop or in the side of Finder windows, and don't know you need to have that, then you probably won't get anywhere. (Yes, there are people who don't know what to do even if those are visible simply because they don't know what to look for. I know some, and they are very nice people; not all of them have lived history.)
For the iOS devices, a step is saved if iTunes is already open. Interestingly, if the iOS device is already tethered (perhaps charging while using it), then that saves steps that can't be saved with a thumb drive since a thumb drive would have to be removed and plugged into another device.
So, I'd say they aren't significantly different in effort, an effort that comes with separate devices that must be physically connected. Shifting to wireless doesn't necessarily remove any steps (e.g. Lion's AirDrop between computers), but automating the transfer can reduce steps (e.g. iCloud between iOS devices and computers). Eliminating the mixing of various kinds of documents can also help navigation, such as with docs stored per app as with mail messages in mail apps, or Pages documents with Pages. You won't get that with a thumb drive since it depends on an "exclusive" (AOT inclusive) file system often associated with hardware, e.g. software expecting a folder of a specific name so it'll ignore everything else, like cameras or the iPad Camera Connection Kit.
Anyways, it sounds like you're experiencing a variation of the "thumb-drive blues". As you say, a few months and it ought to be a little different with iCloud. Even though it won't depend on a physical connection, you'll still need to ensure the iOS is connected to a network (wirelessly) and has finished receiving the push. That might not happen at all if the app or document isn't closed, or whatever the trigger for autosaving. IOW, changes aren't instant, they are time-shifted (temporal) because of the trigger action needed before push; and couldn't ever be instant not so much for the distance (spatial) between devices but because of the devices (plural) not being one and the same device (singular).
What I'm saying is it won't necessarily be better, just something different. It'll probably be preferably while the prior experiences (e.g. thumb drives, floppy drives, emailed files) are remembered, and then complained about later once the past is forgotten or not experienced (next generation). Here we go again…
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