Better on a tablet
Not only are tablet computers great for consuming media, they can be really good for creating it too.
24 November 2010
It's easy to think in terms of what tablet computers can't do when compared to 'real' laptops - but there are actually a few things that tablets can do better. We take a look at our favourite five.
Mind-mapping
Taking notes on any form of computer is a pain, right? A paper notepad is much better? Well, a great alternative to normal note-taking is mind-mapping. A mind map is a diagram used to represent ideas of almost any form. Whereas notes are linear in structure, a mind map works more in the way that you think - concepts are linked by associations.
True, mind-mapping with pencil and paper is fine. But on a tablet, it becomes the easiest, fastest and most effective way to take notes. In fact, in many ways mind-mapping on a tablet is better than on paper - you can scroll, zoom and never be limited by the size of paper you're using. The tablet's touch interface is especially intuitive for mind-mapping, making it quick and easy to add nodes, move them around and so on.
Our choice of software is MindNode, which instead of trying to be the most sophisticated mind-mapping tool ever concentrates on giving you something that's easy and quick to use on the go - and it's more or less perfect.
Task management
Task management is something we all try to do - and at which most of us fail. For many of us, the process never gets more sophisticated than a to-do list on a notepad; one look at complicated time-management or project-management software is enough to send us back to pencil and paper.
To be effective, task management software needs to be as portable as a paper pad - so this is where our tablet comes in. It's the same size and shape as our paper pad - but a lot more flexible.
Enter Things, a great task manager from Cultured Code. There's a version for the iPhone as well as the iPad. If you're a Mac user, there's a desktop version available too.
As you'd expect, Things lets you group activities by project, add notes to tasks, prioritise tasks around date or urgency - all with the finger-swipe convenience of working on a tablet.
Interface prototyping
We covered interface prototyping in a previous article. The drawback with standard applications is that you're tied to a desktop or laptop. When you're involved in something which is inherently collaborative, then working can seem cumbersome - such as working on interface prototypes, which is often akin to sitting in the pub working on the back of a napkin.
iMockups works in pretty much the same way to the Balsamiq Mockups we've previously described - except that it works on a tablet. The advantage of this becomes immediate the second you begin to work on something with another person - you can both sit around the tablet, dragging, dropping and adjusting interface elements with ease. Yes, you can do that via WebEx or other online collaboration tools, but it's far less immediate or intimate.
iMockups gives you a set of standard interface elements - you simply drag the ones you want onto a blank canvas and start to work on your prototype. It's great for website design or application development. The results are deliberately 'sketchy' so your client can see at a glance that it's an informal draft. When you're done, you can e-mail it to the client direct from your tablet.
We think that this kind of application shows one thing that tablets achieve well - working in small groups becomes much more fun.
Brainstorming
Sometimes, the simplest ideas are by far and away the best. Ask any writer - when she or he is brainstorming, chances are they'll be doing it using index cards on a corkboard. Yes, you could use mind-mapping (and many people do) but the index card method is time-proven and familiar. So, enter Index Card, a tablet app that does what it says on the tin.
You pop down your ideas, thoughts, whatever onto index cards which appear on a virtual corkboard. From there, you can edit them as required - including shuffling them around until your ideas are in the right order. You can colour-code cards, too - and, unlike with real index cards, you can optionally view your cards as an outline-like list.
It's a great way to bash out some ideas and shuffle them into shape over a coffee. When you're done, you can export your ideas in Rich Text Format, ready to import into Word and get started on your resulting document.
Presenting
We tend to think of presentations in terms of slides and projectors - which is fine, especially for larger groups of people. But for presenting on a one-to-one basis or even one-to-two/three, getting out the laptop and the projector is overkill.
A nicer, more intimate way to present is via your tablet - gathering around it in a group, while the presenter swipes through slides, zooms in where needed on key elements - and even nips off to the Internet to demo something live.
For this, there is only really one choice: Apple's Keynote, part of the iWork suite. It's really the only fully-featured presenting tool for a tablet - and it can not only import Keynote for Mac presentations, but Microsoft PowerPoint files too. Or, if you like, you can easily create a presentation on your tablet. (Keynote comes with 16 really quite excellent templates.)
We guarantee that giving a presentation in this way will transform pitches and management updates alike.
