More on the iPad

First, some housekeeping.

I have toiled here without much comment, believing that my comments were either so far "out there" that no one could be bothered to comment on what I was saying either to agree or disagree with it, or that my comments were so trivial as to not bother noting. I have just found out that it may be a more pedestrian problem of the blog site not allowing comments to be posted. As soon as I find out the actual problem I will have more to say on this (probably something that notes the implications for people who were trying to learn something). In the interim, if you read something here and wish to comment prior to the repair of the site please email me at Kordel@verizon.net.

What brought this to my attention was a comment from a former colleague who wanted to know what it was that I was doing on the iPad that was so different from what I was doing on the PC. The answer is short, but I believe interesting.

Nothing much.

I have been thinking about development on a course that is targeted for dual delivery on PC's and on tablets (the iPad being the first such device). While the content is interesting it is not bleeding edge, earth shaking or something completely different. It will involve blending some video, some text, and some graphics, hopefully so that the content can be viewed, learned and shared.

So, with that relatively plain setting in mind, what have I noticed? What's the big deal?

There is not "big" deal, but rather, just a collection of small deals. If the content were to be placed on a PC, and only on a PC, there would be no concern about what happened when the screen was turned sideways. Instead we need to work on content to be viewed in a 4:3 format, and the same content converted to 3:4 content. In addition to the plain old formatting issues, the latest issue of Wired on the iPad makes some interesting use of the conversion, with ad copy that changes as the screen is turned (there may be more, I continue to explore).

The more I work without a mouse, the more I like it, but (for me at least) it places the iPad in a very specific niche. The lack of a keyboard means I will probably never use the thing to create much content, (I may answer a short email, but will not create something like this blog entry) but that is OK – I want to use it to consume content. The other thing I have noted is that I sit differently when I use the iPad. PC's (or since Apple Macs also qualify -we now need a word for keyboard/mouse equipped devices ;-) require you to sit up at a desk in order to use them. I notice that I sit back and read it more like a book. I will need to explore aspects of kinesthetic learning and see if anyone else has noted anything here. I also hold the iPad most often like a book, in the vertical format. When I wanted to read on my netbook, I got a screen rotate program. It is not comfortable, although I have used it that way. It allowed me to use the screen as if it were the right side page of a book. Close, but still different.

None of these things by themselves mean much, but as I use the device, other things that keep bubbling up. Taken together, they seem to move the thing into a new class of device.

I hope this answers the question. If you have any follow-ups hopefully I will have the problem with the blog site fixed in the next day or so.

R