Apple’s iPad
Steve Jobs reveals the iPad
Apple announced the iPad today, and at first I have to say I was underwhelmed, though just hearing the chatter regarding the launch on Gizmodo, Twitter, Ars Technica and other tech news sites at the time.
This evening I took some time to watch the keynote video posted by Apple, reviewing the whole 1+ hour love-in of Apple’s ‘Latest Creation’. Afterwards I had a few new takeways and a few more positive thoughts about the device, its potential, and where BraveNewCode might fit in with its impact.
Though I still remain a little skeptical about the net worth of a device like this in my own life, I think for a good many others this might be something that really helps push computing to a new level in their lives, and brings great web content to that many more people.
Capabilities
It sure seemed to me that the full breadth of the device’s power and ‘Magic’ won’t be understood or known until it’s held in the hands, much like the iPhone for many people. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve handed my iPhone over to who, in just a few minutes start grasping what all the chatter is about. I think the same will hold true for this device, and over time as more 3rd party apps are built that harness its potential its wow factor will increase in multitudes.
mobile(BIG)Safari
Safari is touted as ‘the world’s best browser’ by Apple, and in testing for things like the Acid 3 test, it does indeed stack up as such. So what would the best browser in the world feel like on a large, crisp touch display? I’d have to think it’d be pretty nice, and the demos given by Jobs surely do give the impression that that’s the case.
So while it dwarfs the power of mobileSafari on the iPhone and really does put the power of the internet in your hands (minus, of course, Flash) I was left thinking about whether something like WPtouch would be at all desirable on a device like this.
WPtouch Possibilities
There are no doubt many who will think that the attention given to mobile website customizations and solutions (of which WPtouch belongs) do not or need not apply on a device such as this. I think they’re wrong, or at least, not thinking about it as creatively as they could.
Just as there’ll be revolutions for iPad apps created by iPhone app developers that are already making great apps for the iPhone and iPod touch (cough, Loren Brichter) I strongly think there’s a whole new breed of touch browsing customizations that can be brought to websites which not only enhance the the experience of browsing a website, but also improve upon it, taking advantage of the intuitive input method that is touch. A great example of this occurred during Phil Shiller’s demonstration during the keynote of the touch-specific gestures and capabilities built into Apple’s new iWork suite on the iPad. The way that a user is able to perform certain tasks on the iPad are far more intuitive, simple, powerful and fast when compared to the mouse/keyboard input paradigm.
There are of course things that are more difficult on a device like the iPad, or iPhone. In these cases thoughtful consideration about how to reduce or eliminate these barriers will enhance and improve a user’s experience of a website or web application, and minimize the barriers to e-commerce, great content, and so forth.
So with these ruminations in mind I think that BraveNewCode is ideally positioned to look at what these kinds of improvements and advantages might look and feel like. Because we love WordPress so much (just like you probably do, too) we think that adding unique and powerful support for this new breed of web browsing and publishing devices is a must for the active community of WordPress users who will likely be iPadding in the near future.
The Waiting Game
But for now, we’ll all just have to wait a few months before we can get our hands on one, or settle for dabbling with the latest SDK.
14 Comments
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BNC Development Guru
7 months, 1 week
I’m just hoping they ship a version with wings.
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BNC Design Guru
7 months
Hardy har har.
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I’d love to have a special iPad-theme for my blog. By the way: Thank you so much for WPtouch!!!!! You do awesome work!
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Love love love WPtouch.
And I completely agree about touch optimizations for websites and all apps in general. The iPad really does feel like Apple dipping its toe into the next big shift in OS’s. No doubt this is the direction that computing will take in the future. Much the way that GUIs first changed things and saved the meek from having to type commands – so too will iPhone OS (or whatever it gets renamed as when it finds it’s way onto more Macs) save many a casual user from the drudgery of pull down menus and scroll bars. OSX “classic” will be reserved primarily for pro users doing detailed video editing and 3d modeling and stuff. And then they’ll come up with the right hardware for all that to be gesture driven and we’ll be free of mousing and dragging and all that. Well thanks again for WPtouch!
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I am looking forward to buying the ipad just to play around with it, but for most people it will not be able to replace their current gadgetry such as the kindle and iphone.
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Hi,
Will you be making a plugin/theme like WPtouch for the iPad?
Thanks
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I am using the iPad simulator and it takes me to the mobile them on my blog. How can I change it so that when I use an iPad it will not take me to the mobile site.
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BNC Design Guru
6 months, 1 week
When the iPad is actually released we’ll support it.
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Hello, it’s 1 day after the release of the iPad, and I’m lovin’ it so far! I can’t wait until you all come out with a iPad theame, I would assume it just depended on which device a viewer was using when they entered my blog, as to which template kicked in, right?
My main WP theame uses a flash header and footer, and since I am a Videographer, I have a lot of videos on my blog. So I installed WPtouch for two reasons really. First and farmost to make viewing my blog on an iPhone much more enjoyable sine it runs much faster with WPtouch, and secondly so the missing flash headers and footers are not visible on the iPhone. So, Im able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone! so as soon as you write a WPtouch template for the iPad, I’ll then be able to kill 3 birds with 1 stone!
I have an article I wrote about WPtouch on my blog, feel free to read it and leave some love.
ps Im going to send you a donation, half of it is for producing such a great WPtouch plug-in for the iPhone, and the other half is to help influence you to write a new WPtouch iPad plugin. i will be happy to beta test it for ya when you have it ready!
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BNC Design Guru
4 months, 3 weeks
The iPad is a tricky thing. We’ve just got our hands on a couple and it’ll take some time to consider and think through what kind of changes/enhancements can be offered on the device.
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I think you guys are in a perfect position to take advantage of the growing iPhone OS install base. Just imagine what WPtouch could become with the increased screen real estate. Cheers
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I hope you guys make an iPad theme soon!! I Love WPtouch!
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Hey Dale,
WPtouch is one of the best plugins around. We use it on all of our sites and recommend it to our customers at http://www.launchboxpro.com.
Especially impressive is your control panel interface within wp-admin (this is an area I have experience, so I know the work you’ve put into that…nice!).
I am interested to see how you approach the iPad since sites configured properly for the iPad already work pretty darn great. But there is room for some whiz-bang improvements. Good luck. I’ll keep my eye out for what come up with.
Cheers
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BNC Design Guru
4 months, 2 weeks
Hey Craig, thanks very much! We think the same regarding the iPad, and in future other touch tablet type devices. Our thinking revolves more around providing some framework type features which allow site authors to add touch-specific capabilities in certain ways. We’re working hard on WPtouch 2.0, and once released will focus on what can be done to improve websites for the iPad, if there’s any room for it.
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