The iPad tricks and tips thread

[ngenerator]

Originally Posted by ebika

It does some other interesting stuff too.

Like? Are we supposed to guess??

[Chip NoVaMac]

Could we ask to make this a sticky?

[ebika]

Originally Posted by ngenerator

Like? Are we supposed to guess??

Well, I figured you could just go to the URL I included. Here are the things it can do (not all applicable to the iPad):

Quix Help

Quix is a bookmarklet which opens a prompt, and then responds to commands. When you type*whois, for instance, it’ll take you to a page with the whois of the domain you’re currently on. It can also understand more complex commands, like*gs help, that will make it go to Google, searching the current site for the text “help”.

You can also select a word, and use that as extra input for the command. So for instance, when you select the word dictionary, then open Quix and just type d in the prompt, it’ll take you to a Google define: search for the word dictionary. The same would happen if you had not selected anything and typed*d dictionary directly.

The available groups of commands:

Basic commands
Social commands
WordPress
SEO
Webmaster
Quix
Analytics
URL Shortening
App Integration commands
Mac Integration commands
Basic commands

These are the most basic commands Quix offers, but possibly also the most powerful ones.

Command Description
a Amazon Search
d Google Define a word
dict Google Dictionary for a word
e Email link
f Flickr Search
fc Flickr Commercial use CC Search
find Find in current pagem, usage: 'find test' will highlight all occurrences of 'test' and will take you to the first occurrence. Just 'find' will open a prompt.
g Google Search
gbs Google Blog Search
imdb IMDB Search
img Google Image Search
map Google Maps
gs Search the current site with Google
nf Netflix Search
php PHP Function Search
tr Translate the current page
w Wikipedia Search
mh Mahalo Search
read Readability
wa Wolfram Alpha Search
Social commands

These commands are for dealing with social networks and social sites.

Command Description
db Bookmark the current page in Delicious
fb Share the current page on Facebook
gb Bookmark with Google Bookmarks
tn Tweet the current page
s Twitter Search
t Twitter User
v Vimeo Search
yt YouTube Search
tumblr Share on Tumblr
post Share on Posterous
su Submit to StumbleUpon.
WordPress

Quix was of course created by Yoast, a WordPress addict, and as such, some WordPress functions are of course needed!

Command Description
codex Search the WordPress codex
plugin WordPress plugin search
wp WordPress function search
wpmu WordPress MU function search
wpseek WordPress function lookup with wpseek.com
pluginsvn Take me to the current plugin's SVN
wptool Open a WordPress Toolbar.
SEO

As an SEO you have dozens of things you can check on a site, Quix aims to make those things simpler by adding a large set of easy to remember and use commands for SEO's.

Command Description
archive Check archive.org for the current page
can Check whether the domain canonicalizes its homepage correctly
dmoz Searches DMOZ for the current Domain
gbd Search Google Blogsearch for links to the current Domain
gbu Search Google Blogsearch for links to the current URL
gc Google cache for current page
gi Google Insight for the keyword phrase
gwt Google Webmaster Tools for current domain
h Header info for the current URL
kd Keyword Density check and way more
linkcheck Check the links on the current URL
maj Check strong pages & backlinks for the current domain using Majestic SEO
nofollow Shows all nofollows
rh Replaces all headings with <hx>original content<hx> in a HTML document
seo Does a quick SEO checkup of the current page
seothis Open SEO tabs
snippet See how this page would render with Google Rich Snippets
yd Yahoo Inlinks for current Domain
yl Yahoo Inlinks for current Page
ydir Searches Yahoo! directory for the current Domain
kwte Go to the AdWords External keyword tool
kwc Keyword competition check Google
Webmaster

Webmasters often have dozens of bookmarklets for all sorts of simple checks, Quix replaces a lot of those bookmarklets by giving you simple to remember commands to deal with them.

Command Description
csstoggle Toggle css on and off
firebug Loads Firebug lite.
font Font overlay with FontFriend
host Host info for the current domain.
jquery Check jQuery API documentation.
myip Your current IP & homepage.
p3p Check the P3P policies of the current page.
register Register a domain (f.i. use register test123.com).
window Resize browser (might only work with single windows in some browsers).
ruler Shows a ruler that can be used to measure elements.
sg SelectorGadget: point and click CSS selectors
speed Do a Pingdom speedtest of the current URL.
spriteme Sprite the current page using Spriteme.
vs View source of the current URL.
w3c Validate the current page.
w3css Validate the CSS of the current page.
whois Whois info for the current domain.
xray XRAY the current page.
Quix

In a meta sort of way, Quix provides some commands that should help you to debug Quix.

Command Description
debug Debug Quix
help Help file
quix Takes you to the specified Quix page
yoast Lucky search on Yoast
resize Resize image / video while maintaining aspect ratio
Analytics

Some simple scripts to detect which web analytics program a site is running and to debug Google Analytics

Command Description
da Detect the current sites analytics
ga Analyze Google Analytics settings on the current page
gaexport Make the export function in Google Analytics export way more lines (credits: Arjan Snaterse)
bitlyside Bit.ly Sidebar
URL Shortening

A group of URL shorteners

Command Description
trim Shorten with Tr.im
bitly Shorten with bit.ly
awesm Shorten with awe.sm
googl Shorten with Goo.gl
App Integration commands

Integrate with cool programs on all platforms.

Command Description
evernote Clip current page with Evernote
tubesock Download video with Tubesock
Mac Integration commands

A lot of Mac programs allow easy integration with browsers by allowing for URL's like tweetie: to open them. These commands take full advantage of that.

Command Description
cssedit Preview and extract current page in CSSEdit
mars Start a blogpost in Marsedit about the current URL
pukka Bookmark the current page using Pukka
tt Tweet the current page with Tweetie
snap Snap the current page in LittleSnapper
delibar Bookmark the current page using Delibar
shove Catch current page in Shovebox

[ngenerator]

Originally Posted by ebika

Well, I figured you could just go to the URL I included. Here are the things it can do: Holy s***, huge long list

Wow, very cool, thanks for the info

[greenlander]

Originally Posted by ZBoater

Don't worky for me either.

Try follow this to get text search working in Safari on the iPad:

Find Text in Safari on iPad

I didn't read through all that javascript to determine whether the code blocks are the same or not, but I can say from firsthand experience that the instructions at that link work (using it on my iPad).

[ZBoater]

I just bought an app called Find on Page that basically is the JavaScript code. I don't mind paying for it because it is valuable to me, someone put effort into it, and it is very slick. It creates a toolbar at the bottom of the screen to go to the next find. Very very nice.

[Zepaw]

When you choose a song and the album art goes full screen swipe your finger to the right to make it go back down.

[Macjames]

Originally Posted by Zepaw

When you choose a song and the album art goes full screen swipe your finger to the right to make it go back down.

I prefer to double tap, since one tap brings up the controls you can learn where the arrow button is, a slow double tap brings up the menu then minimises the artwork.

[Zepaw]

Originally Posted by Macjames

I prefer to double tap, since one tap brings up the controls you can learn where the arrow button is, a slow double tap brings up the menu then minimises the artwork.

The slow part ia what I don't like, I just want to immediately dismiss the screen. I want an option to turn off it going full screen right away.

[GigiMars]

Originally Posted by lostfan916

Enable safari bookmark bar in safari settings.

Thank you for this tip! It was driving me crazy. Thought it was a bug ... Never thought to check settings. Thx again!!

[sashakla]

Originally Posted by GigiMars

Thank you for this tip! It was driving me crazy. Thought it was a bug ... Never thought to check settings. Thx again!!

I prefer not to do it, actually. The bar eats the real estate if it's displayed all the time. And if it's turned off, you can still easily invoke it by just tapping in the address field.

[ArcAngel66]

Pretty pointless one, but I stumbled across this:

On the home screen, the little "dots" (that indicate how many pages of Apps you have) are actually interactive. Swiping on them will change your current page, tapping on the left side will make you go back, etc etc.

Pointless for me, but a cool little discovery.

[vw195]

Dont know if this has been posted, but if you want to view youtube without all the stuttering, fire up atomic browser, and change the user settings to mobile-safari - iphone. This will keep the hd version from always trying to load.

[Kibbe17]

Originally Posted by neutrinosllc

Don't be too gentle with it. This device is meant to be used casually. Therre will be more iPads in your future.

+1! this is so true. We alll have to remember this!

[xraydoc]

Originally Posted by VanNess

Go to the iBookstore, search for "iPad"

You should see Apple's manual for the iPad as a free book. Download and enjoy!

Appears to have been pulled from the iBook store.

[VanNess]

Originally Posted by xraydoc

Appears to have been pulled from the iBook store.

Just checked and it's still there. Both on the main iBookstore page as one of the featured selections in the middle of the page and also searching "iPad" gets the iPad user guide as the first hit.

Still free too.

[PerfectCr]

Originally Posted by sashakla

I prefer not to do it, actually. The bar eats the real estate if it's displayed all the time. And if it's turned off, you can still easily invoke it by just tapping in the address field.

Yeah I go back and forth on this myself but I preferto have it visible because it saves me clicks and is a visual reminder to visit certain websites I have bookmarked.

[CarboysDesire]

Originally Posted by PerfectCr

Yeah I go back and forth on this myself but I preferto have it visible because it saves me clicks and is a visual reminder to visit certain websites I have bookmarked.

It would be cool if the URL section would only reveal itself if you touch the black line with the time and battery percentage in it. That one wastes much more space than the bookmarks bar and is used much less often by me. The bookmarks bar is used quite a bit.

[richpjr]

Originally Posted by VanNess

Just checked and it's still there. Both on the main iBookstore page as one of the featured selections in the middle of the page and also searching "iPad" gets the iPad user guide as the first hit.

Still free too.

The book shows up in the search results, but when I attempt to download it, I get the message "The item you tried to buy is no longer available."

[AJsAWiz]

Originally Posted by VanNess;

Just checked and it's still there. Both on the main iBookstore page as one of the featured selections in the middle of the page and also searching "iPad" gets the iPad user guide as the first hit.

Still free too.

Just Checked . . . Yeah it's there but you can't download it. When you try it comes up no longer available.

[AJsAWiz]

Originally Posted by xraydoc;

Appears to have been pulled from the iBook store.

Yep . . . I wonder why. Can't even buy it if you wanted to

[DeuceDeuce]

Originally Posted by VanNess

Just checked and it's still there. Both on the main iBookstore page as one of the featured selections in the middle of the page and also searching "iPad" gets the iPad user guide as the first hit.

Still free too.

When you try and download it it says its no longer available

[Peter Harrison]

Maybe they are updating the book. They will probably do that when OS 4 comes out too.

[Pared3s]

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge but this is something i discovered myself. If you're in either week or month view and you'd like to add an appointment to a particular day, press that day and then press the plus button. The add event window will automatically open up in that day. For the longest time I was pressing the plus button and then selecting the day in that window. If you use the calendar a lot like me this will save a few button presses.

[iFerd]

Originally Posted by Galley

I always double-tap the shift key to activate Caps Lock.

I scanned the following posts for this and didn't find it: Being able to activate Caps Lock by double tapping the shift key requires that you set an option to allow this in Settings.