The iPad uses Safari to browse the Internet

iPad and Safari

You get onto the Web by tapping the Safari icon on the Home screen; the first time you do so, a blank browser window appears, ready for your instructions. To type a web address into the browser, tap the address bar so the iPad keyboard appears, ready for your input.

Safari has most of the features of a desktop browser: bookmarks, autocomplete, cookies, a pop-up blocker, and so on. When you go to a web page, 'Pad-Safari behaves as being a desktop browser. It highlights the address bar as it loads all the elements on the page, and gives you Apple's circular "Wait! Wait! I'm loading the page!" animated icon towards the top of the screen. Here is a quick tour from the main screen elements, starting from the upper-left:

Back, Forward. Tap the button to revisit the page you had been just on. Once you tap it, you can then tap the button to return to the page you were on before you tapped the button.
Page Juggler. Safari can keep multiple web pages open, as with every other browser. You can have as much as nine pages open at one time.
Bookmarks. This button raises your list of saved bookmarks.
Add Bookmark. When you are on a page you might want to visit again, bookmark it by tapping this button.
Address bar. This empty white box is where you enter the URL for a page you want to visit.
Stop, Reload. Click the X button on the address bar to destroy the download of a web page you just requested.

Zoom and scroll through web pages

Both of these gestures - zooming in on web pages and then scrolling around them - have probably sold more people on Apple's multitouch operating system for the iPod-iPhone-iPad than any other feature. Everything happens with fluid animation along with a responsiveness to your finger taps that's positively addicting. New owners often spend some time just zooming in and out of web pages simply because they can.

Whenever you first open a web page, you get to determine the entire thing. Following the iPhone and iPod Touch, this isn't particularly new. But unlike your experience on the smaller devices, when you open a web page on the iPad, you can actually read the whole thing. Really!

But say you need to zoom in on a picture or take particular notice at something. The next step is to magnify that the main page. The iPad offers 3 ways to do that:

Rotate an iPad in Portrait Mode. Turn these devices 90 degrees in either direction. The iPad rotates and magnifies the look to fill the wider view.

Do the two-finger spread. Put two fingers together on the glass and then spread them apart. The web page stretches before your very eyes, growing larger. Then pinch to shrink the page back down again.

Double-tap. Safari is intelligent enough to identify different chunks of a web page. One article might represent a chunk, for instance, and a photograph another chunk. Whenever you double-tap a chunk, Safari magnifies just that chunk in the forefront on the screen. It's smart and useful - and great for iPad readers who need a lot of magnification. Double-tap again to zoom back out.

Once you zoom out to the proper degree, you can scroll around the page by dragging or flicking with your finger. You don't have to worry about clicking a link by accident; if your finger's in motion, Safari ignores the tapping action, even if you happen to land on a link. To go forward and actually click a link, simply tap it with your finger.

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