Page 32 - iPhone Life Magazine - Spring 2020

with most games, so you will need to continue to resort to mand key. One feature I hoped Apple would consider baking
the bottom screen left or right swipe for those apps. into its keyboard was built-in support for text expansion,
which allows you to paste in commonly used wording by
typing an abbreviation. Smile’s TextExpander (textexpander.
com) has ruled this space for years, but as we have seen with
keyboard swiping, it’s better when features that are built into
the core iPadOS.

fi gure 3

Extend Your Workspace with Sidecar

Sidecar is another neat new feature exclusive to iPadOS.
Sidecar is basically a screen extender for macOS that allows
you to use your iPad as a second monitor (fi gure 3). Some
third-party apps have offered this capability in the past, but
they lacked the slick polish and “it just works” simplicity that
Apple apps are known for. Unfortunately, Sidecar only works
with macOS Catalina at the moment, but I hope Apple consid-
ers releasing a Windows-based agent so it can also be used
with Windows laptops and desktops. This could be bundled
in a future update for the iCloud for Windows app so that
non-Mac hardware owners could benefi t from the additional
screen space Sidecar affords.

Type Faster with Keyboard

Improvements fi gure 4

Apple’s latest iPads (with the exception of the runt of the Use Custom Fonts
litter iPad Mini) all have a built-in magnetic connector that at-
taches to Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio external case. But for
Custom fonts have fi nally made their way to the iPad. While
those who don’t want to spend an extra $160 on an external
not nearly as sophisticated as desktop font management apps
keyboard, iPadOS has improved the on-screen keyboard experi-
like Adobe Type Manager or Extensis Suitcase, the fact that
ence by allowing it to be shrunk into a fl oating window overlay
Apple has even opened up the iPad to the possibility of using
roughly the size of the iPhone’s pop-up on-screen keyboard.
custom fonts is a big deal for creative designers. However,
While not practical for long form typing, it comes in handy
installing new fonts on your iPad does take several additional
when entering short bursts of repeatable data such as numbers
steps. First, download a font manager from the App Store.
in a spreadsheet or quick replies to instant messages. You can
I’ll use Font Diner (free) as an example (fi gure 4). Once
place the fl oating keyboard anywhere on the screen, making
downloaded, launch the app, select a font you like, and select
it easy to fi nd a sweet spot for typing that doesn’t cover up
Install from the pop-up dialog. Verify that the font is installed
important data in the underlying app. To enable the fl oating
by launching a font-aware app such as Mail. Next, bring up
keyboard, hold down the keyboard icon in the lower right cor-
the on-screen keyboard and select the arrow symbol on the
ner of the keyboard and select the fl oating menu option that
word selector row above the keyboard. Doing so will slide out
pops up. The simpler approach is to simply pinch the on-screen
a toolbar showing several icons, with the fi rst one being font
keyboard. To return the keyboard to its normal size and docked
selection. Selecting that icon will display several more tool
location, simply un-pinch the fl oating keyboard.
buttons including font selection, which is almost always set
Another on-screen keyboard improvement Apple has added
to Default Font. Selecting the Default Font label will display
to both iOS 13 and iPadOS is swipe support for the fl oating
a font picker list of all the system fonts currently installed,
keyboard. After years of seeing this built into Android phones
including the one you just downloaded from Font Diner. And
and tablets by default, it’s good to see that Apple offi cially
Adobe recently released its Creative Cloud app that allows
supports swiping with its QuickPath keyboard since the
subscribers access to over 17,000 fonts from a variety of font
third-party keyboard swiping apps weren’t as seamless and
foundries. If you’re not a Creative Cloud subscriber, you can
posed privacy concerns.
still access around 1,300 fonts within the Creative Cloud mo-
For those who still prefer a physical keyboard, iPadOS now
bile app as long as you have or sign up for a free Adobe ID at
includes a number of keyboard accelerators. To see a list of
account.adobe.com.
supported shortcuts, simply press and hold the Apple Com-
30 iPhone Life Spring 2020