{"id":29654,"date":"2019-10-24T19:02:23","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T23:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/?p=29654"},"modified":"2019-10-21T16:53:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T20:53:06","slug":"ios-13-makes-editing-text-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/ios-13-makes-editing-text-easier\/","title":{"rendered":"iOS 13 Makes Editing Text Easier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s be honest\u2014text editing in iOS has never been anywhere near as good as it is on the Mac. We may be more accustomed to our mice and keyboards, but the Multi-Touch interface has always been clumsy when it comes to text. Apple keeps trying to improve iOS\u2019s text editing features, and iOS 13 (and iPadOS 13) brings some welcome changes in how we go about positioning the text insertion point, selecting text, and performing the familiar options in the Mac\u2019s Edit menu: Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo\/Redo. Has it caught up with the Mac yet? You\u2019ll have to decide that for yourself, once you\u2019ve learned the new techniques.<\/p>\n

Note that these changes apply only to spots in iOS where you\u2019re entering and editing text, not selecting and copying static, read-only text such as a Web page in Safari. And even when you are working on a Web page where you can enter and edit text, the site may override iOS\u2019s text handling.<\/p>\n

Insertion Point Positioning<\/h3>\n

Positioning the insertion point on the Mac is easy\u2014you move the cursor to the right spot and click. In previous versions of iOS, you could tap to put the insertion point at the start or end of a word, or press and hold briefly to bring up a magnifying glass that let you put the insertion point anywhere, including within a word. It was slow and awkward, and made better mostly by trackpad mode, which you could invoke by long-pressing the Space bar.<\/p>\n

iOS 13 improves positioning by letting you press and hold the insertion point to pick it up and then drag it to where you want it. This approach is much easier and more sensible than the previous method.<\/p>\n

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Selecting Text<\/h3>\n

On the Mac, you can select text with multiple clicks, by clicking and dragging, or by using the keyboard. In iOS, however, text selection has always been tough\u2014you could double-tap to select a word, but anything else required subsequent moving of start and end markers. (On an iPad with a keyboard, you could hold Shift and use the arrow keys too.)<\/p>\n

Happily, iOS 13 improves text selection. To start, you can still double-tap to select a word, but you can also triple-tap to select a sentence (shown below) and even tap four times in quick succession to select an entire paragraph. Unfortunately, these selection shortcuts may not work in all apps, but you can always fall back on the previous approach.<\/p>\n

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For selections of an arbitrary length, just press, pause ever so briefly to start selecting, and then drag to extend the selection. In other words, it\u2019s as close to the Mac approach as is possible with the Multi-Touch interface. If the selection isn\u2019t quite right, you can adjust the start and end markers.<\/p>\n

Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo Gestures<\/h3>\n

Everyone knows Command-X for Cut, Command-C for Copy, Command-V for Paste, and Command-Z for Undo on the Mac. In previous versions of iOS, those commands were available only from a popover that appeared when text was selected, or (for Paste) when you pressed and held in a text area. The only command with a gesture, so to speak, was Undo. At the risk of dropping it, you could shake your iOS device to undo your last action. Not good.<\/p>\n

iOS 13 introduces a variety of three-finger gestures to make these commands quick and easy to invoke. Note that you can use the entire screen for these gestures\u2014it\u2019s OK to make them with one finger over the keyboard.<\/p>\n