The iPad has a minimalist design, so you won't see ugly ports or extra buttons protruding from every side like a typical laptop or netbook. Instead, the iPad offers only four physical buttons: Sleep/Wake, Silent/Screen Rotation Lock, Volume Up/Down, and the Home button. By learning how to use these buttons, you can control how your iPad behaves.
Besides these physical controls, the iPad also provides virtual controls for locking the screen orientation or adjusting the sound. By learning to use the iPad's physical and virtual controls, you can control the major features of your iPad.
The Home button appears at the bottom of the iPad on the front, as shown in Figure 3-1. No matter what app you may be using at the time, pressing the Home button immediately displays the Home screen, which displays icons that represent all the apps you can run on your iPad. (Try it now!)
To make it easy for you to increase or decrease the volume, the iPad includes Volume Up and Volume Down buttons on its right side (shown earlier in Figure 3-1).
You can adjust the volume by pressing one of the volume buttons or by holding it down. When you adjust the volume, the iPad displays a ringer icon with a horizontal bar underneath that visually displays the current volume level, as shown in Figure 3-2.
Note
Many apps, such as the Music or YouTube app, also let you adjust the volume with a volume slider that appears on the screen. By moving this volume slider left or right, you can lower or raise the volume without touching the physical Volume Up/Down buttons on the side of the iPad.
Another way to adjust the volume is through the volume slider on the screen, which you can display and adjust by following these steps:
Press the Home button twice. A list of icons, representing different apps, appears, as shown in Figure 3-3.
Swipe this list of icons to the right. You'll see the Volume Control slider, as shown in Figure 3-4.
Slide the Volume Control slider left or right.
Press the Home button when you're done.
The iPad can run two or more apps simultaneously and switch between them at the touch of the Home button.
To switch between multiple apps, follow these steps:
Press the Home button twice. A list of icons, representing different apps, appears (shown earlier in Figure 3-3.)
Tap the icon of the app you want to switch to using.
Note
If you want to remove an app from this list, you can press and hold your fingertip over an icon until all the icons wriggle. You'll see a small red minus sign on the apps—tap it to remove an app.
The Silent/Screen Rotation Lock switch appears on the side of the iPad. If you play audio often and need to quickly mute the sound in a hurry, you'll want to configure this switch to silence the audio. If you don't want your iPad to adjust the screen rotation automatically, such as when you're holding the iPad while laying down, then you may prefer to configure this switch to lock the screen rotation instead.
To configure the Silent/Screen Rotation Lock switch, follow these steps:
Tap the Settings icon. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appear.
Tap either Lock Rotation or Mute, as shown in Figure 3-5.
Press the Home button once.
Test it out by flicking the switch. An icon appears to let you know you were successful. Your iPad is now muted or locked.
You can also mute your iPad or lock its screen using the Home button. If you've configured your side switch to mute the iPad, you can still quickly lock the screen using these steps (and vice versa):
Press the Home button twice. A list of icons appears (see Figure 3-3).
Swipe this row of icons to the right until you see the Mute or Screen Rotation Lock icon, as shown in Figure 3-6.
Tap the Mute or Screen Rotation Lock icon to mute the volume or lock or unlock the screen rotation. The icon that appears will depend on whether you configured the side switch to Mute or Lock Rotation.
Since you can take your iPad anywhere you go, you'll probably use it in different lighting conditions, such as out in the bright sunlight or in a dark room while someone else is giving a boring presentation. In case you need to adjust the screen brightness, you can drag a brightness slider to make your iPad's screen easier to see.
To adjust screen brightness, follow these steps:
Tap the Home button twice. A row of icons appears at the bottom of the screen.
Swipe the icons at the bottom to the right until the controls appear (shown earlier in Figure 3-4).
Drag the Screen Brightness slider to the left or right.
Press the Home button once.
The two most commonly used buttons are the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button. Since you'll be using the Home button often, take the time to practice returning to the Home screen by pressing the Home button once. If you press the Home button twice in rapid succession, you can lock the screen rotation, adjust the volume, or switch to another app.
Locking the screen rotation can be handy if you like curling up in a chair or sofa with your iPad. Without locking your screen, the image might flip back and forth between portrait and landscape mode.
Switching between apps can be handy when you don't want to end an app but want it to retain its current state, such as letting you play a game while temporarily checking your email.
Finally, don't forget that the Volume Up/Down buttons can help you crank up your music or lower it so you don't disturb others. Physically adjusting the volume through the Volume button is easy, but you can also adjust the volume by pressing the Home button twice and then swiping your app icons to the right to view the volume control slider.
If you really need to quiet your iPad down in a hurry, just configure the side switch to Mute and then use the physical Silent/Screen Rotation Lock switch instead.
By acquainting yourself to the purpose of these physical and virtual controls, you can quickly control your iPad. Once you know how to control your iPad with these physical and virtual buttons, the next step is to start learning how to control it using the more common touch gestures on the screen.