EtherPK On A Phone
On a screen narrower than about 1024 pixels EtherPK switches to a layout made for one hand: a strip of tabs across the top, a drawer on each side, and a command bar above the keyboard. The notes, the editor and the shortcuts underneath are the same as on a desktop. The same layout appears in a narrow desktop window.
A phone cannot open a local folder, so a phone works with synced graphs and the demo (Choosing Where Your Notes Live).
The top bar
Left to right: a button that opens the left drawer; the tabs of the documents you have open, each with a close cross; when they overflow, a chevron that lists every open tab; the Tasks button; and a button that opens the right drawer. Long-press a tab for its menu, pinning included; a pinned tab leads the strip. The bar takes the graph's toolbar colour when one is set.
The drawers
The left drawer holds Graph (Quick Find, today's journal, the calendar, favourites, recents, All documents, Settings, Reset workspace) and Quick notes. The right holds Backlinks and Tasks. One drawer shows at a time; opening one closes the other, and a drawer closes itself when you open a document from inside it. The drawer tabs have no close cross.
The command bar
While the editor is focused, a row of buttons sits above the keyboard for the things a touch keyboard makes awkward. Tapping one keeps the editor focused, so the keyboard stays open and you carry on typing. The buttons, in order:
| Button | Does |
|---|---|
| Commands | Types / to open the command menu (Keyboard Shortcuts) |
| Add row, Add column, Remove row, Remove column | Appear only while the cursor is in a table (Tables) |
Insert [[ |
Opens a link and the name suggestions |
Insert ]] |
Closes the link and the suggestions |
| Toggle task | Cycles the line between bullet, open task and done task |
| Undo, Redo | |
| Upload | Adds an image or file at the cursor (Images And Files) |
| Insert table | Opens the table size picker |
| Outdent, Indent | Move the block a level out or in |
| Move up, Move down | Move the block over its neighbour |
| Fold | Folds or unfolds the block's children |
| Decrease font size, Increase font size | Pinned at the right end; they never scroll away |
A button is greyed where it would do nothing: the block buttons on a prose line, Toggle task on a heading, Undo with nothing to undo, and every editing button on a locked protected document.
The font size runs from 11 to 28 pixels and is remembered on this device. On a desktop, Ctrl and the mouse wheel over an editor do the same.
Touch instead of hover
- Tap a link to follow it. To edit a link's text, put the cursor beside it and arrow in.
- Long-press a tab, a link, an image, a file or a sidebar row for the menu a right-click gives on a desktop.
- Tap a task's checkbox to tick it; the target is the whole line height at the box's column.
- Reorder favourites by dragging the grip at the right of a row.
Install it
Install EtherPK on the home screen for its own window and icon, and so the browser keeps its storage where it would clear a website's (Installing EtherPK As An App). On Android, the installed app also appears on the share sheet, so a page or some text from another app lands as a quick note (Quick Notes). iPhones and iPads can install it but Safari has no share target.
Storage on a phone
A synced graph's documents are cached in the browser so the graph opens quickly and works through a dropped connection. Phone browsers sometimes clear that cache to free space. EtherPK keeps the list of your graphs and your protection passkeys in a part of storage that survives this, restores them on the next load with a notice, and downloads the documents again. Edits that had not yet reached the server can be lost, so keep the graph online for a moment after a burst of offline editing. Sync settings > Storage on this device says whether the browser has agreed to keep EtherPK's data; installing the app is the surest way to make it agree. See Where Your Data Lives.
Protected documents on a phone
Switching to another app hides a protected document's contents at once, so nothing shows in the app switcher. The lock timers run against the clock even while the app is paused, so coming back after the time has passed asks for the passphrase or your fingerprint before anything is drawn. The lock control floats above the command bar while you are unlocked (Protected Documents).
Light and dark
The theme control is in the header's navigation menu: Light, Dark or System.