z-machines

I have a confession

Apple has converted me. I no longer like browsing the web on a computer.

I realised this today when my girlfriend asked me to look at the website that she just recently got an internship at. I was perfectly capable of doing so on the computer I was working at: I was in Firefox Nightly, doing research for my novel. But I didn’t. Instead, I immediately filed it away. “Look this site up later when I’m on iPad,” I said to myself.

But why? Especially when I’m already browsing? Well, there’s a few different reasons. The nine-tab limitation keeps me focused…I can never overrun. If I want to keep a page around, it’ll mean sacrificing some of my browsing capabilities. Usually I only have 2-4 pages available, the rest “saved for later.”

Another reason is the scrolling/zooming ease. I can navigate around not only the page but the entire web in an intuitive way, not with a clunky device—but with my fingers. It also doesn’t hurt that I love the mostly-standards-compliant rendering and the beautiful portrait orientation, which in my opinion is the best way to view the web and is how I try to shape my windows even on a computer.

I may get a new iPad, and I may even get an Android tablet some day. But one thing’s for sure—the tablet computer has changed my browsing habits, and I’m not going back.

The other side is good.