7. Browsing the Web
The Galaxy Tab 4 is a great tool for viewing web pages, whether you’re at home or you’re on the go. No matter which Galaxy Tab 4 model you use, the screen is much larger than a mobile phone, so you can see more on the Galaxy Tab 4’s screen. Because you can touch the screen, you can interact with web content in ways that a computer typically cannot. This chapter covers the following:
Returning to previously visited websites
Copying text and images from web pages
Browsing to a URL
It’s likely that you already know how to browse to different web pages in your favorite web browser on your computer. The built-in Internet app in Android works much the same as the browser on your computer, but there are some differences.
1. Tap Internet on the Home screen.
2. Tap the Address field at the top of the screen. The keyboard opens at the bottom of the screen so you can type a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which can be a website name or a specific page in a website.
3. Start typing a URL, such as samsung.com or play.google.com. You can also select from one of the search sites in the list that appears below the Address field.
4. Tap Go on the keyboard when you finish typing.
Searching the Web
The Internet app makes it easy for you to search the Web, so you don’t need to know every URL of every web page out there (which is good considering there are literally billions of web pages). As you type, the Internet app suggests search terms you’ve used in the past as well as search terms that you might be looking for.
1. Tap Internet on the Home screen.
2. Tap the Address field at the top of the screen. The keyboard opens at the bottom of the screen so you can type the URL. Start typing your search term. As you type, a list appears underneath the address bar with suggestions. You can stop typing at any time and scroll down the list to find your search term; tap the search term to select it and start the search.
3. If you haven’t found what you’re looking for, open the Google search page by tapping Go in the keyboard.
4. The results display in a Google search results page. Tap any link to go to a page; you can also tap one of the links at the bottom of the screen to view more results.
Viewing Web Pages
After you open a website, you can control what you view on the web page in several ways. These techniques enable you to access the entire web page and navigate between web pages in the Internet app.
1. Navigate to a web page using one of the two methods described in the previous tasks in this chapter.
2. As you view a page, you can drag up and down the page with your finger. You can also flick with your finger to scroll quickly. After you flick, the screen scrolls, decelerates, and then comes to a stop.
3. Zoom in by double-tapping an area on the screen. Zoom out by double-tapping again.
4. While you’re zoomed in, you can touch and drag left and right to view different parts of the web page.
5. Move to another web page from a link in the current web page by tapping a link. Links are usually an underlined or colored piece of text, but they can also be pictures or images that look like buttons.
Bookmarking Websites
As you browse websites, you might want to save some of the websites in a list of your favorites so you can go back to them later. In browser parlance, this saving process is called bookmarking.
1. Navigate to any page in the Internet app.
2. Tap the Bookmarks button at the top of the page.
3. In the Bookmarks list, tap the Add Bookmark button. The Add Bookmark dialog box opens.
4. Edit the title of the bookmark. The official title of the web page is filled in for you, but you can change the name by tapping the Name field and using the keyboard. To change the folder in which the bookmark is stored, proceed with Step 5. Otherwise, skip to Step 10.
5. To change the folder in which the bookmark is stored, tap the right arrow button to the far right of the folder name, which is Bookmarks in this example.
6. Create a new bookmarks folder by tapping Create Folder.
7. Tap the Enter Name field and then type the name of your new folder.
8. Tap Done.
9. Tap the name of the folder into which you want to place the bookmark.
10. Tap Save.
11. Tap the new folder name in the folder list on the left side of the screen; the new bookmark appears within the folder on the right side of the screen.
Returning to Previously Visited Pages
It’s easy to return to the last page you visited in the Internet app—just press the Back button. As you keep pressing the Back button, you keep going back to pages you visited. In the History page, the Internet app also keeps a list of all web pages you’ve visited during your browsing session.
1. Visit several web pages in the Internet app if you haven’t done so already.
2. Tap Bookmarks.
3. Tap the Bookmarks button and then tap History in the drop-down list.
4. The list of web pages you visited for the current date appears under the Today heading.
5. You can view web pages you visited on an earlier date by tapping the date range, such as Last 7 Days. You can also view the web pages you’ve visited most often by tapping Most Visited; the list displays on the right side of the screen. Note that if you don’t have any most visited sites then the Most Visited option doesn’t appear in the menu.
Deleting Bookmarks
If you find there are websites that you don’t visit anymore or that go to obsolete or missing web pages, you need to cull your bookmark list. You can delete a bookmark from the Bookmarks list or from the History list.
1. Tap the Bookmarks button at the top of the Internet screen. The thumbnail list of bookmarks appears.
2. Tap and hold your finger on the bookmark you want to delete until you see a green checkmark in the upper-right corner of the bookmark tile.
3. Delete the bookmark by tapping the Trash icon in the menu bar.
4. A dialog box asks if you want to delete the bookmark. Tap OK to delete the bookmark instantly.
1. Tap the Bookmarks button at the top of the Internet screen. The thumbnail list of bookmarks appears.
2. Tap the Bookmarks button and then tap History in the drop-down menu. This brings up a list of web pages you’ve viewed recently.
3. Tap and hold your finger on the website in the History list until you see a green checkmark to the right of the bookmark name.
4. Tap the Trash icon in the menu bar.
5. Tap OK in the Clear History window. The website no longer appears in the list of web pages.
Filling in Web Forms
On many web pages you are asked to fill in forms, such as for signing up for a company’s email newsletter or to get more information about a product. Filling out web forms on your Galaxy Tab 4 is similar to filling out forms on a computer’s web browser, but there are differences.
1. Navigate to a page that you know contains a form. (The sample page is at http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/entry.)
2. Tap in a text box.
3. The keyboard appears at the bottom of the screen. Use the keyboard to type text into the box. Tap the Go button when you finish typing.
4. Select an item in a pull-down menu by tapping the box.
5. Tap an item in the menu to select it. If the menu list is long, touch and drag up and down to view more selections.
6. The selected item appears in the field.
Copying Text and Images from Web Pages
The Internet app treats web pages like other documents. That is, you can copy text and images from a web page you view in a browser to another app.
Copy a Block of Text
You can select text from web pages to copy and paste into other documents such as email messages or your own text documents.
1. Navigate to a web page in the Internet app if you haven’t done so already.
2. Hold down your finger on the first word in the block of text and then release your finger. The first word is highlighted in blue with “handles” at the beginning and end of the word.
3. Hold down your finger on the bottom handle (the one on the right side of the word) and drag over the text you want to copy. When finished, release your finger. The selected text is highlighted in blue.
4. In the pop-up menu that appears above the selected text, tap Copy.
5. Android informs you that the text has been copied to the clipboard. You can now go to another application, such as Email (or an email form on another web page), and paste the text into a text area.
Copy an Image
In addition to being able to copy and paste text from the Internet app, you can also copy images from a web page and save them to an email message or a photo collection.
1. Go to a web page that includes an image on the page.
2. Tap and hold your finger on that image for a couple of seconds and then release your finger. A pop-up menu for the image displays.
3. Tap Save Image. This saves your image to the Galaxy Tab 4 so you can view and use it in any app where you select images from your photo albums. Note that the menu options may differ depending on the image you select.
4. The downloaded file appears as an icon in the Status bar.
5. Hold your finger on the Status bar and swipe down to open the Quick Settings and Notifications screen.
6. Scroll down the notification area and then tap the image filename to open the file in the Gallery or Photos app.
