iPhone THE MISSING MANUAL - Cdn.oreilly.com

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Hold your ngertip down anywhere in the text until you see the magni-
ed circle appear. Without lifting your nger, drag anywhere in the text;
you’ll see that the insertion point moves along with it. Release when the
blinking line is where you want to delete or add text, just as though you’d
clicked there with a mouse.
In the Safari address bar, you can skip the part about waiting for the loupe to
appear. Once you’ve clicked into the address, just start dragging to make it appear
at once.
Don’t bother using the Shift key to capitalize a new sentence. The iPhone
does that capitalizing automatically. (To turn this feature on or off, tap
HomeÆSettingsÆGeneralÆKeyboardÆAuto-Capitalization.)
How to Type Punctuation with One Touch
On the iPhone, the punctuation keys and alphabet keys appear on two different
keyboard layouts. That’s a serious hassle, because each time you want
a period or a comma, it’s an awkward, three-step dance: (1) Tap the „ key
to get the punctuation layout. (2) Tap the period. (3) Tap the ABC key, or just
press the Space bar, to return to the alphabet layout.
Imagine how excruciating it is to type, for example, “a P.O. Box in the U.S.A.”!
That’s 34 finger taps and 10 mode changes!
Fortunately, there’s a secret way to get a period, comma, or another punctuation
mark with only a single finger gesture.
The iPhone doesn’t register most key presses until you lift your finger. But the
Shift and Punctuation keys register their taps on the press down instead.
So here’s what you can do, all in one motion:
➊ Touch the „ key, but don’t lift your finger. The punctuation layout
appears.
➋ Slide your finger onto the period or comma key, and release. The
ABC layout returns automatically. You’ve typed a period or a comma with
one finger touch instead of three.
If you’re a two-thumbed typist, you can also hit the „ key with your left thumb,
and then tap the punctuation key with your right. It even works on the = subpunctuation
layout, although you’ll probably visit that screen less often.
Chapter 1