ipados-design-guidelines
by ehmoipados-design-guidelines skill for designing and reviewing iPad-native interfaces. Use it for adaptive layouts, Split View, Stage Manager, sidebar navigation, pointer and trackpad behavior, keyboard shortcuts, and compact-width fallbacks. It helps replace iPhone-style assumptions with practical iPadOS design checks.
This skill scores 81/100, which means it is a solid directory candidate for users working on iPadOS UI design. The repository gives clear trigger conditions, substantial operational guidance, and enough structure to help an agent apply iPad-specific rules with less guesswork than a generic prompt, though users should still expect it to be a design-guideline skill rather than an executable workflow with scripts or install command.
- Explicit triggers for iPadOS work such as Split View, Stage Manager, sidebar navigation, pointer support, and keyboard shortcuts.
- Strong operational structure: valid frontmatter, 11 headings, 70 subheadings, and 50+ rules across 9 categories in metadata/sections.
- High install decision value for iPad-specific design tasks because it distinguishes iPad from iPhone and covers responsive layout, multitasking, navigation, and accessibility.
- No install command and no scripts/resources, so adoption is documentation-driven rather than tool-assisted.
- Repository preview shows truncated content and some placeholder markers, so users may need to inspect the full SKILL.md to confirm coverage details for niche cases.
Overview of ipados-design-guidelines skill
What the ipados-design-guidelines skill does
The ipados-design-guidelines skill turns Apple’s iPad HIG into a practical decision aid for designing and reviewing iPad-native interfaces. It is best for product designers, engineers, and AI assistants that need to reason about adaptive layout, multitasking, pointer behavior, keyboard support, and iPad-specific navigation instead of recycling iPhone patterns.
When this skill is the right fit
Use the ipados-design-guidelines skill when the task involves Split View, Stage Manager, sidebar navigation, trackpad support, multi-column layouts, or any UI that must still work when the window shrinks. It is especially useful when you need a fast “does this feel like a real iPad app?” check before implementation.
What users usually care about most
People installing ipados-design-guidelines usually want fewer layout mistakes, clearer navigation choices, and better input support across touch, pointer, and keyboard. The main value is not generic design advice; it is avoiding the common failure mode of scaling up an iPhone UI and hoping it survives on iPad.
How to Use ipados-design-guidelines skill
Install and activate the skill
Install with npx skills add ehmo/platform-design-skills --skill ipados-design-guidelines. After install, use it as a constraint set when prompting for iPad UI work, design reviews, or implementation guidance. If you are using an agent, tell it explicitly that the target is iPadOS and that the output must follow the ipados-design-guidelines skill.
Give it the right input shape
The strongest ipados-design-guidelines usage starts with a concrete app context, not a vague request like “make this better for iPad.” Include the device target, primary user task, current layout, navigation pattern, and any constraints such as UIKit vs SwiftUI, single-window vs multiwindow, or whether keyboard and pointer support are required.
Read these files first
For quickest adoption, start with SKILL.md, then AGENTS.md, metadata.json, and rules/_sections.md. That sequence shows the core rule set, the category priorities, the supporting guidance, and the exact areas that matter most for implementation decisions. If you only skim one thing, read the responsive layout and multitasking sections first.
Turn a rough request into a useful prompt
A weak prompt is: “Review my iPad screen.” A stronger one for ipados-design-guidelines is: “Review this iPadOS editor screen for regular and compact width, sidebar behavior, pointer states, keyboard shortcuts, and Stage Manager resizing. Suggest changes that keep the app usable in Split View and preserve hierarchy at 320–1024pt widths.” That level of specificity gives the skill enough context to produce actionable guidance.
ipados-design-guidelines skill FAQ
Is this skill only for iPad apps?
Yes, ipados-design-guidelines is specifically for iPadOS behavior and Apple’s iPad HIG. It is not the right default for iPhone-first interfaces, web-only responsive layouts, or general mobile UX advice unless the iPad experience is a real deliverable.
How is this different from a normal prompt?
A normal prompt can miss the key iPad constraints, especially compact-width multitasking, pointer affordances, and keyboard discoverability. The ipados-design-guidelines skill helps keep the response anchored to iPad-native patterns, which reduces the chance of getting a polished but platform-mismatched answer.
Is it beginner-friendly?
Yes, if you can describe your screen, task, and target devices. You do not need to know every Apple HIG rule in advance; the skill is most useful when you want the rules translated into practical design or implementation checks.
When should I not use it?
Do not use ipados-design-guidelines for projects that will never run on iPad, or for tasks where visual branding outweighs platform conventions. It is also a poor fit if you need deep code generation without any product or interaction context.
How to Improve ipados-design-guidelines skill
Provide the missing decision inputs
The best ipados-design-guidelines guide inputs name the app type, primary workflow, and the narrowest supported window size. Include whether the app needs a sidebar, three-column layout, drag and drop, hardware keyboard shortcuts, Pencil input, or external display support, because those choices change the recommended structure.
Call out the most likely failure modes
The biggest mistakes are scaling up iPhone layouts, hiding navigation behind modal flows, and ignoring compact width during multitasking. If you want better results from the ipados-design-guidelines for UI Design workflow, explicitly ask for review against those failure modes and request alternatives when a pattern breaks in Split View or Stage Manager.
Ask for output that is easy to implement
When iterating, ask for concrete artifacts: revised layout rules, navigation structure, shortcut list, or a compact-width fallback plan. For example, request “show the sidebar/detail split for regular width and the stacked fallback for compact width” instead of “improve the layout,” so the next pass can be verified against the skill more quickly.
Use the first answer as a review checklist
After the initial output, compare it against the current screen or spec and ask what is still ambiguous: state restoration, pointer hover behavior, shortcut conflicts, or accessibility labeling. That follow-up makes the ipados-design-guidelines install worthwhile because it turns a static recommendation into a platform-specific implementation checklist.