Marzipan: Porting iOS Apps to the Mac
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But, I don't think we're going to see that...
External screens as an extension don't really work without some kind of cursor - iOS already supports mirroring the display so this is likely something new.
Of course, the optimistic side of me takes this plus Marzipan and comes to the conclusion that they are putting all the pieces in place for iOS to fully support laptop and desktop form factors and work flows.
Fingers crossed.
I hope not though.
You only discover force touch if you mistakenly use too much force at the right time and place, which isn't an everyday occurrence. Where as a right click function could be discovered by clicking randomly with the right button which was obviously put there with purpose.
But option and force touch.. its unclear when its applicable, what it’ll get you, if it even went through and for option, where the resulting button even is
There was no way to know in advance if right clicking a particular thing would provide options or not.
Force Touch has no physically or observable clues to it's existence and thus does not encourage experimentation and exploration.
Despite the fact that there was zero indication that right clicking a particular thing in Windows 95 might actually do something, and the fact that there was always an alternative way to access that information or function for those who only had a one button mouse, we managed to adopt the right click functionality anyway.
Force touch is no more a secret than the adoption of the right mouse button was in Windows 95.
I don't think you understand discoverability at all.
People know there's a right mouse button simply by looking at the mouse. They might not know when or where to use it but they can see the button and know it has a purpose. The button invites people to press it and they might randomly try it in various places to see if it does anything and discover a feature. The OS is irrelevant.
You can't see Force Touch. You don't know it's there until someone tells.
Looking at a machine you had upgraded to Windows 95, you had no way of knowing that the right mouse button now did something, nor was there any indication of which items in the UI supported right clicking and which ones did not.
I reiterate my point that force touch is no more or less discoverable than right clicking was in Windows 95. They are both optional shortcuts to reach functionality you can already access in another way.
If it's the latter, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Apple come up with something that only solves the latter.
Perhaps what's missing is not an iPad with mouse support, but a Mac with a more Surface-like form factor.
Android does support mouse input; Apple can at any time release a typecover for iPad with a trackpad. They choose not to.
This tells me Apple plans an iOS desktop mode. You could pair a monitor, keyboard, and mouse with your phone and work at a desk. All your apps, settings, and files stay physically with you, never leaving your device as you carry it to work/school/home/etc. iOS devices would be used like the Nintendo Switch but for desktop computing in addition to gaming.
And you can get better precision from the Apple Pencil or other styli.
Mouse-support would actually be a step backwards on an iPad; multitouch lets you do things that are impossible with the single pointer of a mouse, such as interacting with multiple UI elements (like sliders, knobs) at the same time with multiple fingers, even across different apps in split-view.
I'm honestly glad iPhones/iPads/Macs don't try to be touchscreen PCs, and I'm glad Apple explores the full breadth of each device's unique strengths, borrowing the best from each other without trying to be each other (except in some cases like wasting the larger screen space on iPads; displaying a single column of Lock Screen widgets or showing 4x4 icons in folders even on the 12.9" iPad.)
If you need to touch the screen frequently during certain workflows, tilt the iPad at a low angle (so you look down on it) and if you're using a detachable keyboard you can keep it to the side.