I first linked to Louis D’hauwe’s pixel art editor for iOS, Pixure, in March, when he introduced PanelKit in the iPad version of the app. If you’ve never played around with Pixure and PanelKit, imagine the ability to grab iPad popovers or sidebar panels and detach them so they’re floating onscreen like tool palettes would on macOS. I was skeptical of this idea initially – I feared it would overcomplicate the iPad’s UI – but it works surprisingly well on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. I know that after using PanelKit months ago, I tried a few times to grab popovers in iPad apps like Omni’s, realizing that they didn’t support PanelKit.

D’hauwe is back today with Pixure 3.0, another excellent update that, among various enhancements, brings a version browser (a feature more apps should offer on iOS), drag and drop, and advanced export options. With today’s release, Pixure also includes PanelKit 2.0, a major update of the framework that now supports pinning multiple panels to the side of the screen as well as resizing them. Plus, your custom panel configuration is now saved across multiple app launches, so once you set up your workspace in Pixure, the app always remembers it.

Even if you’re not interested in editing pixel art graphics, I recommend checking out Pixure 3.0 just to play around with PanelKit 2.0. Support for multiple panels on the side is particularly impressive – try, for instance, to resize and stack the Color Picker and Layers panels on top of each other. It’s fun and intuitive, and I bet you’re going to wish more pro iPad apps offered this kind of flexible, customizable UI. You can find Pixure 3.0 on the App Store and read more about PanelKit 2.0 here.

Jannis Hermanns:

In the summer of 2017, I wanted to know what it would be like to use an iPad Pro as my main computer. I found out that it can actually work, thanks to an iOS app called Blink, an SSH replacement called Mosh, iOS 11 and running stuff on a server.

As is tradition, I will first explain myself and tell you about the why.

This is a technical, fascinating look at turning the iPad Pro into the primary computer for a web backend engineer. It’s always interesting to read how other people with different needs are taking advantage of iOS and the iPad’s app ecosystem.

Pixure is Louis D’hauwe’s excellent pixel art studio app for iOS that lets you create retro-styled illustrations. Pixure was already best suited for the iPad’s bigger display, but the latest version 2.2 adds PanelKit – a UI framework created by D’hauwe himself to turn traditional iPad popovers into floating panels.

Popovers are a staple of the iPad’s interface, and I was skeptical when I saw the first details of PanelKit in February. After testing Pixure on my 12.9” iPad Pro, though, I think D’hauwe is onto something – when the app is in full-screen, it’s nice to be able to re-arrange a palette of tools so it doesn’t hide your content. The best part, in my opinion, is that panels can be converted back to sidebars by snapping them to the edge of the display, which is a fantastic use of the iPad Pro’s large screen. There’s an argument to be made about PanelKit bringing the cognitive load of desktop window management to the iPad, but I believe that, for some apps (such as graphic editors like Pixure), floating controls that you can re-arrange around the canvas are necessary.

I’m testing a few iPad apps that try to optimize for the iPad Pro’s screen with additional popovers and sidebars, and none of them feel as flexible or as intuitive as D’hauwe’s app. If you’re an iPad user, you should check out Pixure.

John Gruber on what may be coming next in terms of iPad refreshes:

What doesn’t make sense to me is a new 10.5-inch model. The idea makes sense — keeping the physical footprint of the current 9.7-inch models but reducing the bezels and putting in a bigger display. The ideal form factor for iPads and iPhones is just a screen, like the phones in Rian Johnson’s Looper — reducing the size of bezels and moving toward edge-to-edge displays is inevitable. Even the pixel density math works out for a 10.5-inch display.

What doesn’t make sense to me is the timing. I don’t see how an iPad with an exciting new design could debut alongside updated versions of the existing 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPads. Who would buy the updated 9.7-inch iPad Pro with the traditional bezels if there’s a 10.5-inch model without bezels? No one.

If Apple is going to position both the second-gen 12.9” and 9.7” iPad Pros as the high-end models, I don’t see where a simultaneous release of a drastically different 10.5” iPad Pro would fit. But if the second-gen iPad Pros (with the current form factors) move to the low end of the lineup, that means the 10.5” iPad Pro could introduce an edge-to-edge design with no Home button before the iPhone gets such treatment (supposedly) later this year.

That idea always seemed odd to me. Traditionally, the iPad doesn’t get major hardware changes before the iPhone. The iPad hardware tends to follow the iPhone. True Tone and the four-speaker system were iPad Pro-first features, but they weren’t fundamental platform changes such as Touch ID or Retina. Both of those came to the iPhone first. (I won’t even count the Smart Connector here.) An edge-to-edge design with no Home button is a major platform shift – particularly if it includes new developer APIs, which would have to launch in the Spring before iOS 11 if the rumor of an imminent iPad Pro 10.5” is to be believed. At this point, I find that somewhat hard to believe.

Instead, I think spec-bumps across the entire iPad lineup would make more sense in the short term. I can see Apple bringing consistency to the product line (True Tone, USB 3 speeds, and fast charging for every iPad Pro model) and adding faster CPUs/more RAM for powerful iPad-only features coming with iOS 11. I’m curious to see if Apple will revive the iPad mini by making a 7.9” iPad Pro and if iPad accessories will receive substantial improvements at all (it’d be nice to get an upgraded Smart Cover or a Pencil with superior battery life).