Put your six things where your thumb lands
Move the handful of things you actually use onto the first screen, and find everything else in three letters instead of hunting through pages.
The arrangement of icons your tablet came with was decided by a company, before it knew anything about you. It is not a filing system. It is a store window.
Nearly everybody uses about six things on a tablet and hunts through four pages to reach them. Moving those six to the front, and leaving the rest exactly where they are, takes five minutes and saves a small irritation every single day.
Key points
- Hold a finger on any icon to reach the menu of things you can do with it
- Move an icon onto the shelf, where it sits on every page
- Get out of the wobble with Done, without having changed anything you did not mean to
- Find any app in three letters instead of sliding through pages
What to remember
- Holding a finger on an icon for a second is how you get at everything to do with it.
- Whatever goes on the shelf is on every page. Give those four or five places to the things you open daily.
- On an iPad you swipe down the middle of the home screen to search; on most Android tablets there is a search bar sitting across the top. They do the same job.
- A first screen with six things on it is a good first screen. One with forty is a filing cabinet.
Try this
On your own tablet, decide the one thing you open most often, and put it on the shelf along the bottom. One icon is enough to feel the difference tomorrow morning.
Practice: Put your six things where your thumb lands. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.