Text selection

[LannyC]

In iOS8, it seems no longer possible to move the insertion point with a tap, nor to select a word with a double tap. I have to press/hold until the magnifier appears, then move my finger to drop the insertion point, THEN pick "Select" from the contextual menu.

This is ridiculously slow and clumsy. Did I miss/change a setting somewhere?

 

[J. A.]

It's still possible. I tried both in Mail and Pages, it worked. I didn't find a setting which could prevent it, though.

 

[scifan57]

In iOS8, it seems no longer possible to move the insertion point with a tap, nor to select a word with a double tap. I have to press/hold until the magnifier appears, then move my finger to drop the insertion point, THEN pick "Select" from the contextual menu.

This is ridiculously slow and clumsy. Did I miss/change a setting somewhere?

I tried it just now and I can select the cursor location with a tap and a word with a double tap on my iPad 4 which is on iOS 8.

 

[twerppoet]

In iOS8, it seems no longer possible to move the insertion point with a tap, nor to select a word with a double tap. I have to press/hold until the magnifier appears, then move my finger to drop the insertion point, THEN pick "Select" from the contextual menu.

This is ridiculously slow and clumsy. Did I miss/change a setting somewhere?

Keep in mind that text selection works differently depending on whether you are in a view-only mode or in text editing mode (keyboard visible). You can not tap an insertion point if the keyboard in not being used, because you are not set to insert anything.

Play around in both modes to see what happens. Use every combination of tap, tap-hold, double tap, triple tap, and tap-swipe. Then try it again with two fingers. You will probably discover all kinds of tricks you didn't know about. Too many, and too much difference between the two selection modes for me to cover in this short a post.

 

[LannyC]

Thanks, TP, but I doubt I've missed many selection gestures. This is stuff that worked a couple of days ago, in iOS7.

Hmm. I wrote the original post after having a miserable time posting on this forum. When I tried posting in another forum, it worked normally.

I just double tapped on the word "When" in the last sentence, when the insertion point was after the last period, after "normally." I tried several times. The first few iterations, nothing appeared except the black contextual menu. Eventually, instead of selecting "When," it selected "normally." There seems to be a problem using Mercury, iOS8, and this forum. I even tried a hard reset, no change.

I miss the app... <sniff>

 

[twerppoet]

I'm not sure what's going on then. I'm on the iPF site using the iPad Air now, and the normal selection gestures are working.

In the past when I've had problems, I've used the pinch-out gesture to zoom the text slightly. That helps a lot if the text is a bit small. It is easier to work that way in potrait view.


Update: Weirdness. Right after I posted this I tried some of the non-editing slection gestures, and nothing worked. It even brought up the keyboard once, even though I could not enter anything. I clear Safari from RAM using the app switch panel, reloaded the site, and everything worked normally.

 

[LannyC]

OK, I'm using Safari now, and the standard selection gestures work fine. Whatever forum code conflicts with Mercury does not seem to affect Safari. I'll report it to Mercury's developer.

I can deal with this. But the dumbing-down of the Photos app is unforgivable.

 

[twerppoet]

Like the dumbing down of the iWorks apps, the Photos app is going through a transition so that it can become more than it was, and in a smarter way.

They needed to strip a lot of the old functionality in order to go forward in a new direction. From the hints I'm getting, you're going to like the result. But it may take a while. The full roll out of how Apple is going to handle photos across iOS and OS X may not be complete until sometime in Spring.

Apple has never been afraid to do this. And most of the time, we do forgive them, eventually.

And please, no one had better say the Photos app was great as it was. It's been one of the most complained about apps on iOS. It's due to some love, even if it's tough love.

The iWorks apps, by the way, have nearly all the missing features back, and now play nicely across the web, Mac, and iOS platforms. A win that most of the initial complainers are coming to, grudgingly, admit.

Patience my friend. This too shall pass.