Making Brightness and Wallpaper Settings

You might as well set up the visual side of iPad first so your interaction with the device is easy on the eyes and battery power. There are two such settings that fall together as one category in the Settings window: Brightness & Wallpaper.

Setting brightness

Especially when using iPad as an e-book reader, you may find a little less brightness in the display reduces strain on your eyes. Also, reducing the brightness can save a little on your iPad's battery life.

To modify the brightness setting, follow these steps:

1. To begin, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. In the Settings dialog, tap Brightness & Wallpaper.
3. To control brightness manually, tap the Auto-Brightness On/Off button to turn it off.
4. Tap and drag the Brightness slider to the right to make the screen brighter, or to the left to make it dimmer.
5. Tap the Home button to close the Settings dialog.

If glare from the screen is a problem for you, consider getting a screen protector. This thin film not only protects your screen from damage, but can also reduce glare. These are available from a wide variety of sources (just search for iPad screen protector).

Changing the wallpaper

Just as your desktop computer or laptop has the ability to display a pretty picture or pattern as a desktop background called a wallpaper, your iPad can display an image on the Home screen and another picture that displays when your iPad is locked.

The picture of water drops that's the default iPad image may be pretty, but it may not be the background that's best for you. Choosing different wallpaper may help you to see all the icons on your Home screen, or just allow you to display an image that appeals to your artistic sensibilities.

To change the wallpaper, do this:

1. Tap the Settings icon on the Home screen, and then, in the Settings dialog, tap Brightness & Wallpaper.
2. In the Brightness & Wallpaper settings that appear, tap the arrow to the right of the iPad images displayed in the Wallpaper section.
3. In the screen that appears, tap Wallpaper to display all the built-in wallpaper images.
   You can also use your own picture for your wallpaper. Instead of choosing Wallpaper, tap Camera Roll or choose a photo library to browse your saved photos, select the picture you want to assign, and then resume with Step 5.
4. In the Wallpaper dialog, tap a wallpaper image.
   A preview of that wallpaper appears onscreen.
5. Tap either Set Lock Screen (the screen that appears when you lock the iPad by tapping the power button), Set Home Screen (to use as the wallpaper), or Set Both.
6. Tap the Home button and you return to your Home screen with the new wallpaper set as the background.