JUNE 2019 MACWORLD 97the proper folder... and, come to think of it,
I might start doing that, since it is closer to
how iOS does things. On my iPad, I open
1Writer (my iOS text editor of choice) and
use a sliding pane that displays the
contents of that same Dropbox folder.
Tapping the icon to create a new file
creates it, by default, in that folder. I never
need to leave 1Writer to open, create,
rename, or email a file.
THE OTHER SIDE OF
THE FENCE
There are, of course, numerous ways that
the Mac provides more power and
flexibility than iOS. That’s what makes the
Mac so great. My Mac gives me access to
powerful command-line features that
bubble beneath the surface of the
interface, and I can even wrap them in
easy-to-use GUI shells with Automator and
AppleScript.
That said, there are some places where
simplification can have power. To me,
Shortcuts is a second take on Automator
that corrects most of the original utility’s
failings. While I rely on Automator every
day, It’s mostly for executing scripts. The
promise of easily welding together
different apps via Automator workflows
never really came to fruition for me, largely
because individual app-based actions
were few and far between—and when
they existed, they were largely opaque.
Shortcuts is hardly an easy-to-use tool,
but it’s streets ahead of Automator. There
are a dozen things I want to see improved
about Shortcuts, but I’d take it as a
replacement for Automator this fall if it also
let me run AppleScripts and shell scripts.
While I don’t want the Mac to give up
its power and flexibility, there are a lot of
places where a simplified approach should
be the default—and is potentially better, or
at least not worse, than the Mac status
quo. The Mac approach of an infinite
number of overlapping windows of
arbitrary sizes is a classic—but might a
different approach to full-screen, split-view,
and side-snapped windows be easier,
cleaner, and more efficient?
Using so much of the iPad Pro has also
convinced me that it’s time for the Mac to
adopt touchscreens, at least as an option.
Being able to touch my iPad’s screen, even
when attached to a keyboard, is an
improvement. No, I don’t think you should
be forced to touch a screen to use a Mac—
just as keyboards and (hopefully someday)
mice are not required on iOS. But why not
provide users with more options?
I’m not excited about being forced to
change the way I’ve used my Mac for 30
years... but if I wanted to change because
the new method was better, I’d be ready to
move. And in some ways, to my great
surprise, my perspective seems to have
already shifted. ■