Kindle Paperwhite for Dummies (10 page)

The top toolbar is always displayed on the Home screen.

Central zone:
This area, which is the largest of the three zones, covers the middle of the screen. A quick tap or swipe here advances to the next page.

Left zone
: This area is a long, narrow rectangle that is approximately .5” wide. A tap in the left column moves to the previous page. Because this zone is narrow, your tapping has to be precise. That said, if you can visualize the zone on the screen, remembering where to tap will be easier.

Navigating with Icons

The Kindle Paperwhite has one physical button on the device: the power button. Buttons that were on earlier versions of the Kindle, such as Home, Back, and Font, are incorporated as icons in toolbars on the screen. These virtual buttons are described in this section.

Toolbars when viewing a book

When you open a book and advance through its pages, you see the text on the page and progress information at the bottom of the screen. That’s it! But if you tap in the top zone on the screen, you see the toolbars shown in Figure 3-3. The icons displayed on these toolbars are described in the next section.

Home icon

The Home icon will always bring you back to the Home screen, no matter where you are or what you’ve tapped. Consider this icon to be a virtual friend.

Back icon

The Back icon, like the Back icon in a web browser, lets you retrace your steps. In some instances, the Back icon acts like the Home icon. For example, if you open a book from the Home screen, read a few pages, and then tap the Back icon, you return to the Home screen — not the previous page you looked at.

In a newspaper or magazine, however, the Back icon works differently. See the “Toolbars when reading periodicals” for details.

Figure 3-3:
The toolbars you see when reading a book.

Light icon

The Light icon controls the built-in light. Tap this icon to display the adjustment meter shown in Figure 3-4. The light gradient has 24 levels, from very dim (1) to very bright (24). To adjust the light, tap the plus or minus sign on either end of the meter or tap on the meter itself. Play with the adjustment meter in different lighting conditions to see what works best for you.

Figure 3-4:
The light adjustment meter.

Note that the screen says, “In brightly lit rooms, use a high setting,” and “Use a low setting for dark rooms.” This advice might seem counterintuitive, but it is correct. When your eyes become accustomed to a dark room, your pupils are dilated and you need less light to see. Too bright a light can be painful. In bright light, your pupils are constricted and thus need more light to see.

Some Kindle Paperwhite owners complain of a splotchy screen or that the lights at the bottom are noticeable. Adjusting the light to a lower level may ameliorate this problem.

Store icon

Tapping the Store icon takes you to the Amazon Kindle Store. If wireless is turned off, you’ll be prompted to activate it. Note that the icon appears dimmed if you’ve turned off access to the Kindle Store under Parental Controls.

Parental Controls allow you to disable access to the web browser, the Kindle Store, and the Cloud. In addition, when Parental Controls are enabled, you cannot deregister or reset your Kindle Paperwhite. Why would you want to disable these features? Primarily to prevent others who might be using your Kindle Paperwhite, such as your children, from making unauthorized purchases. You might also want to prevent others from seeing what you have purchased by viewing your content in the Cloud. To access this feature, tap Menu⇒Device Options⇒Parental Controls.