4.3. Create and Use Safari Bookmarks

Did you set up your syncing preferences ‘twixt iPad and computer when you first got your tablet? If so, you’ll find Safari already stuffed with a whole batch of bookmarks (Favorites)—that is, a list of websites you want to re-visit without having to remember and type in their URLs.

If you ripped your iPad out of its box as soon as you got it and haven’t yet introduced it to your PC or Mac, you can easily copy your existing desktop computer’s browser bookmarks from Internet Explorer (Windows) or Safari (Macintosh and Windows). Section 11.14 has instructions.

To see all your bookmarks, tap the button at the top of the screen. The Bookmarks box appears on-screen. Some may be “loose,” and many more are probably organized into folders, or even folders within folders. Tapping a folder shows you what’s inside, and tapping a bookmark immediately begins opening the corresponding website.

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Note:

That handy Google search box at the top-right of the Safari window above can do more than sniff around the Web for your search terms. When you tap in a keyword, it also shows you how many times the word appears on the current web page—which is really helpful if you’re wading through a screen full of text looking for that one relevant term.

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4.3.1. Add New Bookmarks on the iPad

You can add new bookmarks right on your tablet. Any work you do here is copied back to your computer the next time you sync the two machines.

When you find a web page you might like to visit again, tap the button (top left of the screen). Tap the Add Bookmark option to call up the Add Bookmark screen. You have two tasks:

• Type in a better name. In the top box, you can type in a shorter or clearer name for the page than the one it comes with. Instead of “Bass, Trout, & Tackle—the Web’s Premiere Resource for the Avid Outdoorsman,” you can just call it “Fish.”

  The box below this one identifies the underlying URL, which is totally independent of what you’ve called your bookmark. You can’t edit this one.

  Click Save and you’re done; the bookmark shows up in Safari’s “loose” list.

  
  

  

  
  

• Specify where to file this bookmark. If you want to save a bookmark in a more organized way, tap the button that says Bookmarks >. You open Safari’s hierarchical list of bookmark folders. Tap the folder where you want to file the new bookmark.

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Tip:

If you make a mistake as you tap in a URL and don’t notice it right away, you don’t have to backspace all the way to the typo. Press your finger down on the text until a magnifying glass and a flashing insertion cursor appear, then drag your finger to the error, lift your finger, and correct the mistake. Then go back to where you were.

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