@matigo Really I just want iOS to have a more open file system and better Dropbox integration.
I mean, why can't it be like Android but…better?
@matigo Any suggestions?
The practicality of using a tablet in a restaurant is minimal though. Rather too obvious.
I should also add that, when travelling and with spotty connection, iOS's presumption of "always connected" breaks really quickly. The constant reloading of apps and webpages just makes it impossible to use iOS for anything serious.
By contrast, and as a rare move due to the extended length of this trip, I brought my 2013 MacBook Air with me and it's doing just fine. So yeah, iOS has a very long way to go…
The lack of transparency in iOS really frustrates me, perhaps because I grew up in a time when computers didn't try to shield the user from every process. For example, not being able to edit file extensions in Files, and not being able to force a save in iA Writer — hell, even having a save/not saved indicator (eg as macOS has with the black dot inside the red button) would be more comforting.
I'm entirely disinclined to "just trust" that my files are syncing and that nothing will be lost. That's not how computers work.
File management and the extreme abstraction from the file system (even with Files) is what stops me from buying an iPad Pro. Love the device, really don't enjoy the OS.
Android would be lovely, but for the privacy concerns (and the lack of any decent tablet).
So the answer would seem to be a MacBook. But it's rather obvious, in a fine dining restaurant, that I'm writing a review if I take a MacBook out. And would look rather odd.
To conclude, then, I must continue to suffer.
(iCloud Drive is not an alternative to Dropbox for me, at least until it goes cross-platform.)
The woman who just staggered into the coffee shop smelling like a public toilet and with stains in all the corresponding places on her jeans is carrying a Taylor guitar case unzipped and with an actual bloody guitar inside.
The olfactory assault is nothing compared to the nails-on-blackboard shudder of the thought of that guitar hitting the floor.
So if I have an existing markdown file in Dropbox, Kodex can open and edit it no problem. But if I duplicate a markdown file in Kodex, it becomes "filename.md 2.txt" and the renamer has no way to edit the file extension.
In any case, the renamer doesn't work because Kodex can never "communicate with a helper application" ie Files.
Which makes the whole exercise completely pointless.
And this is why I despise the approach that Apple's taking with filesystems. This BS is slowly creeping into MacOS as well.
Spent 5 minutes playing with the text editors that integrate with Dropbox via iOS' Files. Nearly threw the phone across the coffee shop. What an absolute screw-up the whole thing is. Editorial, which connects to Dropbox in the "old" (independent) way, is a ton better, even though it has its own host of problems and hasn't been updated in ages.