Apple Just Re-invented How the Mouse Should Work
When Apple added mouse control of the iOS interface as an accessibility feature last year, many heralded it as “finally, I can use a mouse with my iPad.” I was anxious to try it and quickly connected a bluetooth mouse to the iPad. Things quickly went downhill from there. Yes there was an on-screen cursor, but it felt very cumbersome and clunky to move a pointer around an interface created for touch and attempt to navigate anything. I very quickly understood why Apple had previously stated the mouse wasn’t the right navigation tool for touch interfaces.
Fast forward to today, and I’m really impressed with how Apple once again reinvented something we all take for granted — how a mouse pointer works. On computers, we’re used to floating our mouse cursor around the screen, visually lining it up with what we want to interact with, and then clicking away. There is a level of uncertainty in the process we don’t even realize nowadays. Am I hovering over the thing I actually want to click on? Will this insert my cursor right after that spelling mistake mid-word?
The new iPad mouse handling brings context awareness to help with mouse interactions. As the mouse pointer moves around, the iPad recognizes the controls on the screen and the pointer transforms. If I’m hovering over a block of text, the pointer becomes a vertical bar I move around (I know, yeah we have that on the Mac too). If I move over a button or other screen control, the pointer becomes a highlight around that control, so I immediately know that’s what will be selected if I click. That highlighting action doesn’t feel like you’re trying to line the pointer up to specific dots on the screen; It’s as though the control has gravity of its own and gently pulls the pointer onto it. It feels natural.
In order for this contextual awareness to function everywhere, app developers need to add the capability to their apps to really drive the simplicity. Many iOS-level controls in existing apps, such as navigation bars with tabs and back buttons, already get the benefit.
Once again Apple shows that deeply understanding the user experience and dropping assumptions (like ‘just make it work like my computer’) lead to beautifully simple experience innovations. I fully expect to see this mouse handling concept make its way to the Mac desktop in the future.
This is a great example of how my team at Lextech stays focused on the tools we see as critical to the new world of work. For years we’ve seen teams struggle with the shift from laptops to iPads and innovations like this will help smooth the path. I’m passionate about helping organizations figure out how to embrace the new world of work — find me on LinkedIn or shoot me an email at alexb@lextech.com
About the Author
Alex Bratton
As the CEO and Chief Geek of Lextech, I lead a team that creates employee experiences to empower people and achieve business results. I’m passionate about refining the future of work, helping organizations transition from a set workplace to work-any-place. I’m the author of Billion Dollar Apps and an adjunct professor of computer science at Northern Illinois University.
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