I recently bought a 12.9” iPad Pro with the hope that it could replace my laptop and bring new flexibility to my development workflow. I needed a new computer and I knew the pencil was close to replacing a drawing tablet, at least close enough to replace my 10-year-old Wacom Intuos 3. I also knew that Catalina would extend connectivity with my work computer.
Why…?
I was ready to try something new and I had to see for myself. With the aforementioned pencil and the portability to work anywhere, I envisioned myself skipping gleefully through the park (as I had done in the past with my Canon Rebel) tablet in hand ready to work on a site or design.
Maintaining multiple machines was a large part of this decision. I already maintain dozens of servers and would have 3 laptops if I got a new one. My iPad mini had been collecting dust for some time now except for the rare occasion we took it with traveling. Instead of having another machine to maintain I decided to go with the iPad.
Software
Coda and Play.JS
Coda is a great editor. Created by Panic, the same people who created Transmit, possibly the best Mac (s)FTP client. I picked up Coda many years ago on my Mac and was pleasantly surprised to find I’d already purchased the iPad version!
The iPad version allows you a Transmit like FTP experience, a Terminal, and a Playground. On the downside, you can’t access any of that until you connect or force a bad connection to a server.
Play.JS is full
Blink Shell vs. Prompt2
Prompt2 was a tempting option as it is also created by Panic. However
I have so much more I’d like to explore with Blink Shell. I look forward to being able to spend more time on a Digital Ocean droplet getting to know what I can make it do. I’m skeptical that I will be able to manage .(dot) files, configurations, etc.
Working Copy
Git is an essential part of a developers’ tool belt. I was most skeptical about how this would integrate into an iPad workflow. I was pleasantly surprised to see how fantastic Working Copy truly is.
If for nothing else, I will use the heck out of this app to reference a project as well as using it to play around with JavaScript or React projects on Play.JS
TablePlus
In articles that I’ve read one thing has been missing. Database access! I didn’t think about it myself until I started getting into some real work.
Luckily TablePlus is available for iPadOS as well as macOS. I happened to have TablePlus on my machine and had found it to be really nice. Although I tend to use Sequel Pro on
AWS Console
Another one I didn’t see many people talking about was access to Amazon Web Services. This isn’t the best app, but it does the job.
If I needed to I could always log into the console from Safari as it is no longer a mobile browser.
Dash
Having language documentation at your fingertips is great. It cuts down on browser tabs and overall clutter. I have used it on macOS, however, Dash on the iPad is a huge upgrade!
I’ve found myself using this app for some light reading.
Inspect vs. Ergo Web Tools
Being able to see what’s happening in the browser is an aspect of web design that literally changed the way we work. Unfortunately, the browsers on the
The overall consensus was to use Ergo Web Tools. I found after experiments with both that Inspect was not only easier to target elements, it rendered content more accurately.
Workflow
Multitasking with gestures, split-screen, slide over. Having the right combination of windows open really helps. If you have slack, notes and twitter in slide over you can access that from any app you have open by simply swiping from the right side of the screen. Split-screen is also great for research and note
On a side note, it can be frustrating that the apps you want to function this way must be in the dock. I have better things to keep in the dock than twitter and slack. So if you’re listening Apple, please include docked folders and spotlight as options for accessing applications.
Conclusion
The pencil is great. While I could say that the Wacom line has pen tips and surfaces that mimic the real feeling of some mediums, it’s not much of a trade
The keyboard is also not bad at all, surprisingly easy to use and aside from not having a backlight I have come to enjoy writing with it more and more. I’ve also started using dictation a lot on the iPad, something I never set up on my MacBook Pro.
While it has been fun to dust off my VIM skills I can’t lie… I ended up ordering a new MacBook Pro. I am a power user, I need spaces, I need multiple browsers with multiple tabs and… well, you know.
This experience has impacted my outlook and workflow going forward. I will be using it frequently and growing with the changes. The iPad will evolve into a fully capable development environment someday.
It will however be PERFECT for mono tasking. I also can’t wait to try out sidecar.
*Image Credits: Apple Store and Apple.com