Quote:
Originally Posted by athlonkmf
actually, iPad is built for consumption of media. Not for manipulation of data.
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On the iPad, media is data. And you do need to manipulate it: Arranging apps. Moving books in iBooks. And so forth.
In iOS 4, you can organize apps into folders. ComicZeal is doing much same thing: organizing comics into series. Let's directly compare the two.
Folders on iOS 4:
Step 1: tap the app icon.
Step 2: drag onto another app icon.
Step 3: There is no Step 3.
Direct manipulation: tap with finger, move with finger.
ComicZeal:
Step 1: tap on the comic menu.
Step 2: tap edit.
Step 3: tap comic.
Step 4: tap move.
Step 5: choose destination from another popup.
Step 6: tap save.
Indirect manipulation: a complicated series of menus and popovers. More, the user has to discover this convoluted procedure through trial and error, it's not obvious. (And, unlike GoodReader, there is no automatic help.)
Direct is simple and transparent. Effortless. A user "just does." That's the iPad way.
Indirect is opaque and convoluted. Indirect breaks iOS interface conventions. It's appalling interface design.
The reason for interface conventions is so people "know" how a new app works, because it taps into the same procedures the rest of the OS uses. This saves the user a lot of work.
Example: The keys to cut, copy and paste on Windows and Mac are constant between applications, and even between the two OS's. Command-X, -C, -V. What purpose would it serve to have one single program change those keys to Command-R, -T, and -)? None.
Unless there is a compelling reason not to, apps should "fit" the nature of the iOS. ComicZeal doesn't.