60D807

Q: Why is the Apple website so decidedly incompatible with mobile devices?

Why is it that when I try to post a question to the support community page via my iPhone or iPad, it turns into an ordeal similar to what I would imagine a day at the DMV in **** would be like. Autocorrect turns into auto-uncorrect and basically anything I type I have to go back over with a fine tooth comb because there will be errors that will not be picked up by the spellcheck on the site or the device. Surely I'm not the only one who experiences this. How can a company like Apple let this continue. This site is without a doubt not mobile friendly. And yet Apple derives a significant amount of income from the sale of mobile devices. And there is no way to create or manage an Apple ID without coming to the Apple website. And you are basically forced to create an Apple ID if you want to enjoy the full functionality of an iOS device. Can anyone explain this to me? Am I doing something wrong? This is a valid question and not a rant. Why does typing this on an iPad result in me wishing I was having gum surgery just to get away from the agony of using this site on a mobile device?

iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi, iOS 8.3

Posted on Apr 24, 2015 2:01 PM

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Q: Why is the Apple website so decidedly incompatible with mobile devices?

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  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill May 24, 2015 5:37 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 10 (103,368 points)
    Apple TV
    May 24, 2015 5:37 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Auto-correct occasionally causes me issues on my iPad, however the mistakes supposedly produced as a result of the OP leaving auto-corrected corrections un-corrected are just plain made up.

  • by 60D807,

    60D807 60D807 May 24, 2015 8:19 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (1 points)
    May 24, 2015 8:19 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    You know something.. For someone who obviously is usually very helpful and informative when it comes to Apple products, in this instance, you obviously don't know what **** you're talking about. I've said this many times before and I don't know why it is so unbelievable but.... I really have many other things I would much rather be doing than logging on to the ASC just to mess with people like Meg who has never been anything but helpful anytime I've had a problem. I realize some people on this planet might find humor in what you suggest. But I am not one of those people sir and I'm really quite sick of being insulted.

  • by SergZak,

    SergZak SergZak May 24, 2015 8:50 AM in response to bobseufert
    Level 5 (7,304 points)
    iPad
    May 24, 2015 8:50 AM in response to bobseufert

    Maybe the OP can eventually get some answers as to why all the oddness...but it may just be yet another ASC forum oddity...

     

    Greetings, Bob! Wishing you and the family a great holiday weekend!

    Same to Demo and the others here as well.

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece May 24, 2015 9:00 AM in response to 60D807
    Level 5 (7,485 points)
    Notebooks
    May 24, 2015 9:00 AM in response to 60D807

    IIt's been like this for years.

    ^-- a 'mobile only feature'

     

    If you use iOS here a lot then your keyboard dictionary will be polluted with these 'uppercase messes'.

    'Settings > reset > keyboard dictionary' will delete all those, but it also clears out your common misspellings history too. Those are also synced to other devices via iClouds document & settings sync.

     

    If you want to see them before you reset try opening ~/Library/Spelling/dynamic-text.dat on any Mac that sync to your iCloud in an app that can handle null separators (like TextMate2 - macromates.com). There doesn't seem to be any way to edit or fix these typo's.

     

    As for the HTML button, it seems to come & go for me on iOS. I assumed it was a throttling issue - when the site gets busy it seems to disappear on iOS but I have never had enough access to understand if that is the case.


    I don't think it will help (it hasn't made any difference so far - I reported it when it annoyed me years ago) but you can try the feedback page in the hopes that the discussions software will be fixed.

    http://apple.com/feedback/maps_ios.html

  • by etresoft,

    etresoft etresoft May 24, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 7 (29,051 points)
    May 24, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Drew Reece

    Hello Drew,

    60D807 seems to have uncovered the source of the problem in this other thread: Question for Levels 1 to 4.

     

    There are simply some modes on ASC where there is no HTML button. 60D807 was using the Activity Stream, where the HTML button doesn't show up. That was one of the recent new features that was poorly received by many of us. It sounded like a good idea on paper, but for people answering many questions per day, it is very inefficient. But a "regular person" checking their own activity might just use that interface.

     

    There is a bit of a tightrope to be walked when trying to make a mass-market device or service the way Apple does. Sometimes, they stray too far into making the system easy to use for beginners and take away the features that power users rely on. Then, when someone has a question about HTML editing in the Activity Stream, or pretty much anything involving iWork, there are no power users who know the answer because they have abandoned that particular area.

     

    This is what people talking about when they complain about "dumbing down". No one objects to making something easier to use. Even power users appreciate that. The problem is when Apple imposes a hard upper limit on features. I wrote ASCPowerTools to help people get around those limits on ASC. But that is a risky approach because Apple can make changes that break such hacks, just as they did the other day with the relocation feature I had to remove. I used to be a big fan of iWork, especially Pages, but now Microsoft Office is the only game in town. Apple sometimes seems to think that people use Apple products because they just want to use Apple products, but that's not true. People use what works best for them. Even a discussion forum can fall victim to this. Compare Apple's Developer forums with Stack Overflow, for example. Which one is the joke? The only reason anyone posts on the Developer forums anymore is in hopes that an Apple engineer will come along and actually document something that they should have done years ago.

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece May 25, 2015 3:41 PM in response to etresoft
    Level 5 (7,485 points)
    Notebooks
    May 25, 2015 3:41 PM in response to etresoft

    Is there anything that fixes the double caps on iOS Etresoft?

    I give up editing in the browser on iOS because it is just an exercise in futility when this forum breaks what I type.

     

    P.S.

    If you are aggregating tools for making ASC usable, look at this tip I submitted…

    Bookmarklet to fix AppleScript pasting on discussions.apple.com

  • by etresoft,

    etresoft etresoft May 25, 2015 6:38 PM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 7 (29,051 points)
    May 25, 2015 6:38 PM in response to Drew Reece

    Hi Drew,

    I know of no way to fix the double-cap problem. You might try other browsers maybe.

     

    These days I am doing more de-aggreating than aggregating. But I could add that to a future version of ASCPowerTools. I might want to add spaces after the "var" keywords though.

  • by bobseufert,

    bobseufert bobseufert May 25, 2015 11:42 PM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 6 (13,686 points)
    iPad
    May 25, 2015 11:42 PM in response to Drew Reece

    Try the Brightkey keybiard. No diouble caps and if you move the your finger on the spacebar you can move he cursor. You don't need to give it full access is you don't want to. You'll lose predictive type but I don'use it anyway.' I prefer it in blue.

     

    Brightkey Keyboard - Designer Themes + PANTONE by Brightkey Limited

    https://appsto.re/us/zHfx2.i

     

    image.jpg

  • by etresoft,

    etresoft etresoft May 26, 2015 7:11 AM in response to bobseufert
    Level 7 (29,051 points)
    May 26, 2015 7:11 AM in response to bobseufert

    I like the idea of the spacebar control. However, I would never recommend the Brightkey keyboard. I just downloaded and installed it. The first thing it does is ask you to provide full access. There is no way on this earth that I would ever, ever do that. I like the idea of having keyboards, but on OS X, I know that tapping into the keyboard when using different apps would be a major challenge. Essentially, you need a key logger and those are easy to spot. On iOS, 3rd party keyboards are key loggers. You must assume that every login, password, and credit card number you type will be recorded. The only security you have is Apple's default setting of "Allow full access: NO". Any keyboard that immediately suggests you give it full access is HIGHLY suspicious. Fraud in the apps stores is rampant.

     

    And finally, the Brightkey keyboard is even worse that Apple's built-in keyboard. Whereas with Apple's keyboard I have to go back and delete the double first letter, the Brighkey keyboard almost always deletes the entire first word I type.

     

    Settings > Keyboards > Edit > Brightkey > Delete > Delete

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece May 26, 2015 8:34 AM in response to bobseufert
    Level 5 (7,485 points)
    Notebooks
    May 26, 2015 8:34 AM in response to bobseufert

    I saw that in an earlier post & ignored it. As Etresoft said it's not really an answer…

     

    It doesn't work on iOS below version 8 & I don't want to use other keyboards (with the security implications) to fix a problem created by the forum software.

  • by seakfromnull,

    seakfromnull seakfromnull May 30, 2015 8:44 AM in response to 60D807
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 30, 2015 8:44 AM in response to 60D807
  • by seakfromnull,

    seakfromnull seakfromnull May 30, 2015 8:45 AM in response to seakfromnull
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 30, 2015 8:45 AM in response to seakfromnull

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  • by 60D807,

    60D807 60D807 Jun 2, 2015 1:05 PM in response to Demo
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jun 2, 2015 1:05 PM in response to Demo

    So I never properly said thanks for the help. Clicking the html button does make typing a question or comment much less annoying than previously.

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