7. Browsing the Web
In this chapter, you explore the World Wide Web on your EVO 3D using your phone’s web browsing features. Topics include the following:
• Bookmarking websites
• Sharing websites with others
• Using GPS ability with web browsing
• Keeping track of the websites you visit
Your EVO 3D offers great features for experiencing the Internet. The experience of using your EVO 3D’s web browser is similar to using an Android tablet’s web browser or even a desktop computer’s browser—just with a smaller screen. You have many options for optimizing your web-browsing experience at your fingertips, and you also have the benefit of holding your EVO 3D in landscape orientation to increase your screen’s viewing area.
Navigating with the Browser
Much like the browser on your desktop computer, you can customize your EVO 3D’s browser, bookmark sites, and see a record of your browsing history. Your EVO’s Home screens are already configured for you to access the browser with just a flick of your finger.
1. From a Home screen, tap the Applications icon.
2. Scroll down one screen and then tap Internet.
3. Tap to type in the address for the website you want to visit.
4. Tap a link to follow it.
5. Tap to refresh the page.
6. Double-tap an area on the page to zoom into that area. You can double-tap the area again to zoom out.
7. Unpinch your thumb and index finger to zoom into the web page. Pinch them together to zoom out.
8. Rotate your EVO 3D to view the web page in landscape orientation.
Managing Bookmarks
The browser makes it easy for you to save your favorite websites as bookmarks so that you can quickly return to them later. Over time, you can accumulate a large number of bookmarks.
1. Press the Menu button on your EVO 3D and then tap Bookmarks. The bookmarks screen displays thumbnails of websites you have bookmarked. Your EVO 3D comes preloaded with some bookmarks to sites you might find useful.
2. Tap a bookmark to load that website.
3. Press the Menu button and then touch Thumbnails to change the view of the Bookmarks screen from the default Grid view to a Thumbnails view or list view.
4. Touch and hold a bookmark to reveal the bookmark actions menu.
6. Tap to open the website in a new window.
7. Tap to edit the bookmark.
8. Tap to add a shortcut to the bookmark from your EVO 3D’s Home screen. This enables you to access the bookmark without first having to open the browser.
9. Tap to share a link to a website with a friend via Bluetooth, Friend Stream, a mail account, messages, or Peep.
10. Tap to copy the link to the bookmark so you can then paste it into another browser.
11. Tap to delete the bookmark.
12. Tap to set the bookmark as your browser’s Home screen, which is the page that opens when you first launch the browser.
Using GPS Location
Your EVO 3D is equipped with a GPS radio that enables it to pinpoint exactly where you are. This function enables you to take advantage of the many location features included within many of the preloaded apps, third-party apps, and websites.
1. If you visit a website that wants to know your location, allow the website to update your location.
2. The Google Home page is used in this example. As you can see, the website is aware of my location and has given me options at the bottom of the screen to find restaurants, coffee, bars, and other services that are in my area.
Managing Multiple Windows
If you like to multitask, your EVO 3D makes it easy for you to open multiple web browser screens at the same time, load different web pages into them, and navigate between the multiple pages.
1. Press the Menu button and then touch Windows. The current page reduces to a thumbnail.
2. Tap to delete a page.
3. Tap a thumbnail of a page to display it in full screen again.
4. When you have multiple pages open, you can flick your finger left to right and vice versa to move through multiple open pages and tap a new page to view it full screen.
5. Tap to open a new browser. The new page opens in full screen.
Setting Page Options
When viewing a web page, you have a number of options at your fingertips, such as performing a word search on a page, copying text, and sharing pages with others. You can find all of these options via the Menu button.
1. Press the Menu button and then tap More.
2. Tap Home to return to the first page that opens when you first launch the Internet.
3. Tap to perform a word search on the current open web page.
4. Tap to view the current page’s address information.
5. Tap to share a page with others via Bluetooth, Friend Stream, mail accounts, Messages, or Peep.
6. Tap to view the Downloads queue for files you downloaded while using the browser.
7. Tap to review a comprehensive list of the sites you have visited using the browser.
8. Tap to wirelessly print the current web page. Both your printer and your phone must be connected to the same local wireless network.
9. Tap to customize the browser settings.
Customizing Browser Settings
There are many options for you choose from to customize how your browser behaves. For example, you can set a new Home page, decide whether images automatically load, and enable or disable mobile versions of web pages.
1. Press the Menu button and then tap More.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap to manually set a new browser Home page.
4. Tap Load Images to enable or disable image loading when you visit websites. When this setting is disabled, images do not load on the web pages you visit.
5. Tap to block pop-up window advertisements. It is a good idea to keep this setting enabled, as it keeps you from receiving unwanted solicitations. Some websites you visit might require you disable this setting.
6. Some websites offer mobile sites. Tap to disable this setting so that you can browse the full version of websites as if you were accessing them from a desktop computer.
7. Tap to enable or disable JavaScript. JavaScript is used on websites for formatting and other functions. Many web pages do not work without JavaScript, so consider leaving this setting enabled.
8. Tap so that the new web pages you open load in the background and do not become the current window. When you enable this setting, you have to switch to the new web page to make it the current window.
9. Tap to change the default text size for all web pages you visit. The default setting is normal, and your other choices are Tiny, Small, Large, and Huge.
10. Tap to set the text encoding to properly display text on web pages.
11. Tap to set the default zoom level for web pages on your EVO 3D. This setting ultimately determines how much of the physical webpage you are able to view onscreen at one time.
12. Scroll down to see more options.
13. Tap to display an overview of newly opened pages you visit. The web page appears zoomed out in an overview instead of it being viewed at 100%.
14. Tap Landscape-only Display so that all web pages viewed on your EVO 3D’s web browser are displayed in landscape mode.
15. Tap Enable GIF Animation so that your EVO 3D is able to display GIF animations, which are animations composed of a number of images or frames displayed successively on a web page. Some individuals use GIF animations as their avatars in online forums.
16. Tap to clear all locally stored cookie data on your EVO 3D.
17. Tap to clear the browser cache.
18. Tap to clear your browser history of all of the websites you have visited on your EVO 3D.
19. Tap to clear all previously entered web form data.
20. Tap to clear all data for passwords you have previously entered on websites.
21. Tap to clear all location settings for websites you have previously visited.
22. Scroll down to see more options.
23. Tap to enable or disable your EVO 3D’s browser from remembering the username and passwords you have entered on websites.
24. Tap Remember Form Data to enable or disable the browser’s ability to remember form data such as name, address, and email address you have entered on websites.
25. Tap Show Security Warnings to enable or disable your browser from displaying a warning if there is a problem with a website’s security.
26. Tap to enable or disable your browser from allowing websites to save and read cookies stored on your EVO 3D.
27. Tap to enable or disable your browser from allowing websites to access your location and GPS information.
28. Tap to set the amount of memory your EVO 3D uses for caching web content.
29. Tap to instruct your EVO 3D on how to use website plug-ins.
30. Tap to designate a new default search engine for your EVO 3D.
31. Scroll down to see more options.
32. Tap to configure advanced settings for individual websites you have visited, such as clearing location access for a specific website or clearing all data stored from a specific website on your phone.
33. Tap a website to view its settings.
34. Tap to disable this website’s ability to see your location and GPS information.
35. Press the Back button to get back to the Settings menu.
36. Tap to enable Wi-Fi proxy settings and to set the Wi-Fi proxy host and the Wi-Fi proxy port.
37. Tap to reset your EVO 3D’s browser back to its default state. This clears all the settings you have adjusted.
Downloading Files
While browsing websites, you might want to download video or audio files, documents, and perhaps even applications. Follow these steps to download files using your EVO 3D’s browser.
1. Touch and hold a picture or a link for an object you want to download.
2. Tap Save Link.
3. The Downloads screen appears with a progress bar for the download.
4. After the file has been downloaded, tap the file to view or play the content.
Reviewing History and Most Viewed Sites
Behind the scenes, your EVO 3D records the places you have visited on the Web. You can access these records within categories named Most Viewed and History.
Most Visited
Most Viewed is a list of websites that are ranked by how many times you have visited each site.
1. Open the browser, press the Menu button, and then tap Bookmarks.
2. Tap to view a thumbnail list of your most-visited websites. All websites you have visited appear in the list with the most frequently visited site appearing first and so on.
3. Tap a website thumbnail to visit that site.
History
The History screen contains a record of all the sites you have visited. Each site is grouped by the date on which you visited it. The History screen offers a great way for you to find a site that you know you visited but did not make a note of the address.
1. Press the Menu button and then tap Bookmarks.
2. Tap to access your list of visited websites on the History screen.
3. Tap a category to expand the results and view the list of websites you visited on that day.
4. Tap a website name to visit that site.
5. Press the Menu button and then tap Clear History to clear your browsing history.
