iPad Basic Buttons

The beauty of the iPad is how simple the hardware is. There are not a ton of buttons. For my learner, it is very easy for him to understand and use. ipad hardware frontPicture 1: iPad Front View

This is the front view of the Apple iPad. There are three areas of button on the iPad.

Power Button: (Marked with a 1 on the iPad Front View) In the upper right hand corner of the iPad is the power button. This button has two states depending on if the iPad is on or off. If the device is off then holding the button down for a second or two will turn the iPad on. As a result you will get the familiar Apple boot screen and in a few moments the iPad will be on and will be presented with a screen similar to the one above. If the device is already on, holding the Power Button down for a second will but the iPad into standby mode. Holding the power button down for longer will instruct the iPad to completely shutdown.

Advice: Some people prefer to shut the device down the iPad completely, for me I just keep it in standby mode. I almost never turn it off completely. I do this for a number of reasons: First, when my son wants to play he does not want to wait for the iPad to power up. Second, the iPad has a very long life and standby mode does not really consume battery life. So in the end for us, faster is better.

Volume Control and Screen Lock: (Marked with a 2 on the iPad Front View)

Volume Control: This is a rocker switch, hold down the top of the switch and the volume will go up. Hold down the bottom of the switch and the volume will do down all the way to off.

Screen Lock: Just above the Volume controls is a screen lock slider. The iPad can sense if you have the device landscape or perorate and will switch accordingly. This is a very nice feature, as you turn the device the screen will follow along. There are times, if you hold it funny, or are laying down, or simple don’t want the screen to spin, when you will want to lock the screen and prevent it from turning and this is the slider you will use.

Advice: Locking the screen early on can help decrease frustration. It can help with childen who have mobility issues also reducing frustration. Note: Some covers can obstruct this slider. So experiment with them to find the best one for you needs.

Home Screen Button: (Marked with a 3 on the iPad Front View) This is a mufti purpose button. When in an application, if you press the home button you will exit the application and be taken to the first page of your home screen. Note: As you increase the number of application you have on the iPad, you will add more pages to your home screen. A flick of the screen left or right will change the page but clicking the home button will take you to the first page. Think of the home button as a way to get back to the beginning, no matter where you are, no matter want is going on, click the home button and you will start and the beginning.

Advice: The Home Button can also get you out of rubble with the iPad. Let me explain. When you touch and hold your finger on an application long enough, you tell the iPad that you want to rearrange or even delete the application. This happen to everyone, they are using the iPad the do something and all of a sudden, the Applications are wavy and there is an big “X” in the corner of each app. Dot worry, if this ever happens to you, just click the Home button and everything will reset back to normal. Remember, Wavy App, click Home Button.

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