Even though the web browser is very functional as it is,you might want to tweak a few set- tings or view a few of the more advanced features it supports.
Managing Your History
Your browser keeps a history of where you’ve been.This feature comes in handy when you can’t find a page you viewed a while ago.Load the Internet browser,press the Menu button, tap More,and then tap History.
This list is much the same as your bookmarks list.Tapping and holding gives you the same options—Open,Open in a new window,and so on.The only difference is the Remove from history command.
Suppose you want to get rid of your browsing history.Maybe you borrowed your loved one’s phone to do some online holiday shopping.Maybe you accidentally typed in a domain name that is very close to one of your favorites but wasn’t what you intended.If you want to clear your entire history,follow these steps:
1. From within the browser,press the Menu button,tap More,scroll down,and tap Settings.
2. Scroll down to the Privacy settings options and tap Clear history.
3. Tap OK to the warning message that all the browser navigation history will be cleared.
Finding Your Downloads
Sometimes a website has something you want.Maybe it’s an image you really like,maybe it’s a program you need to install,or maybe it’s a file that someone has posted on a website. Whatever the reason,if you’ve downloaded anything from a website while on your mobile phone,the phone has a record of it.
Although such record-keeping may sound uncomfortably like Big Brother,it’s not meant to be.The download history allows you to easily access any files you’ve downloaded without having to search for them.Just press the Menu button and then tap More.Tap Downloads to display the screen.
To access a file you downloaded,just tap it,and the file opens.To remove it from the list,tap and hold the file’s icon,and choose Clear from list.This doesn’t actually delete the file;it just removes it from the Download history.
Browser Settings
But wait! There’s more! As with the web browser on your computer,you can control a wide variety of settings on your phone’s web browser.
The following sections detail the various settings you can configure to adjust your web browsing experience to your liking.
Page Content Settings
These settings affect how pages look and act when you are viewing websites:
• Text size: Tap this option to change the display size of text on the page.
• Block pop-up windows: Some websites like to open new windows when you load them.Many do this to display advertisements,but some use this for functionality.If you don’t like multiple windows opening when you didn’t request them,tap to check this box.
• Load images: If you don’t have an unlimited data plan,or you’re in the desert and you don’t have a very good connection,you can tap to disable images.This can help your web pages load faster,but it might also break some functionality and make the web pages look a bit odd.
• Auto-fit pages: Your phone’s screen,although big for a phone,is a lot smaller than the one on your computer.Tap this option to make sure that all web pages resize them- selves to fit on your phone’s screen.
• Enable JavaScript: This option sounds technical and advanced.Well,it is technical. JavaScript is a programming language that allows web pages to do some cool stuff.It’s generally okay,so you can leave this option checked.
• Open in background: Sometimes,when you tap a link on a web page,it opens in a new window.Sometimes,if you tap and hold a link,you can select Open in a new window.When either of these things happens,this setting means that the new window isn’t actually visible. It’s “behind”the window you’re looking at.Just go through to Windows to find it.
• Set home page: Earlier we discussed how to set your home page,so we’ll skip that for now.
Privacy Settings
Privacy is an important concern because of the threat of identity theft.The settings here don’t really protect you too much,but they are there,and they are better than nothing.Let’s see what we have.
• Clear cache: Your phone caches the web pages you read.It helps the pages you read load faster when you go back to them.Not all pages support this feature,because things such as news sites depend on the content’s being fresh and up to date.But tap- ping Clear cache gets rid of everything.So no one can see that site you were browsing last night.
• Clear history: Clearing the cache isn’t enough.You saw earlier that every site you’ve been to is listed on your phone.Going back to that site you visited last night? Tap Clear history so that no one will see it sitting in your history cache.
• Accept cookies: Cookies are a way for a website to store information about you.This could be the contents of an online shopping cart,or which city you’re in.Either way, some people see this as a security risk,because any other site could pull that information from your browser.Check this option to accept cookies; uncheck it to not accept them.
• Clear all cookie data: If you want to get rid of all the cookies on your phone,just tap this option.Be warned that none of the stored cookie information will remain on your phone,so you might need to reenter some of that information.
• Remember form data: On the one hand,this is an exceedingly useful feature.You don’t have to type in your mailing address every time you load a form that is be set up prop- erly.At the same time,this would be a way for someone to pull your information and possibly steal your identity.For what it’s worth,I leave this option checked.
• Clear form data: You can remove all the form data that’s saved using the preceding option by tapping this option.
Security Settings
The difference between security and privacy is a thin gray line.Loose privacy leads to a very insecure system.That’s why you shred your private papers.No security leads to a lack of pri- vacy.That’s why we have blinds and curtains on our windows.
• Remember passwords: This is a handy feature for websites that don’t keep you logged in using cookies.But anyone who picks up your phone could just log into whatever websites you log into.
• Clear passwords: This removes all the usernames and passwords saved on your phone.
• Show security warnings: This option lets you know if there’s a problem with a site’s security,such as a problem with the security certificate,or something a little off with the URLs on the page.
Advanced Settings
This is where we get into the deep stuff.
• Enable Gears: Gears is a bit of software that Google created to live in your browser and help websites do much more powerful things,such as allowing you to read blogs when you have no Internet connection.Because Gears is part of Google,Google has made sure that the web browser on your phone can use it too,so long as you check this box.
• Gears settings: If you haven’t installed any applications that use Gears,
But let’s install a sample application so that you can see how Gears works.In your browser,go to http://code.google.com/apis/gears/sample.html.Tap the Shortcut Demo link,and then tap Create Desktop Shortcut.
When you tap Yes,you see a monkey face icon on your desktop.Tapping it takes you to the Shortcut Demo web page.
• Reset to default: This option undoes all the settings you’ve set—all the cookies,all the form data,everything.Your phone goes back to the way it was when you first got it.And yes,you are asked if you’re sure.This will be a rare occurrence (we hope),but sometimes it’s the only way to fix a problem with your phone.
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