Tips, Tricks, and Hints

[Nate the great]

1. The Kindle web browser has two modes.

The default mode is a very simple browser that strips out the background, flash, etc. to show a page that is certain to be readable. This can take as much as 5 times as many screen pages to display.

The advanced mode treats the screen like a 600 by 800 monitor, and shows everthing.

Whenever you are viewing a page, try both modes. One might be better than the other.


2. Sometimes a page won't load right because Javascript is not enabled.

3. It is possible to browse from your Kindle and download ebooks. Some sites that will work on the Kindle are:

www.gutenberg.net
www.munsey's.com
www.webscriptions.net

[Nate the great]

So far as I can tell, the Kindle does not have a jump to page function. But a way around that is to speedily click the next page button multiple times. If you do it say, 6 times, it will jump 6 pages.

EDIT: Okay, I was wrong. It does have a search by location.

[rflashman]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

So far as I can tell, the Kindle does not have a jump to page function. But a way around that is to speedily click the next page button multiple times. If you do it say, 6 times, it will jump 6 pages.

Yes it does... MENU -> "Go to Location..."

It's documented on the documentation too.

[gteague]

i saw this on one of the kindle screen savers. i didn't remember seeing it in the user guide, but sure enough it is in there. so just in case others missed it i'll post it here and ask a question: why isn't '@dict <xxxx>' one of the choices?


Tip: You can also search any of the remote locations directly by typing shortcuts into the Search line. The format for the shortcuts is to type the @ character followed by the remote destination and then the search term. For instance, to search the Kindle Store for trees, enter @store trees in the Search line. This will take you directly to the Kindle Store search results page for trees. Other shortcuts are @wiki and @web.

[Just4Fun]

Hi,

I've been a lurker here for a long time.Thank you for providing a great place to find intelligent information regarding e-books and e-book readers.

I think that you might find this tip interesting:
(taken from Kindle answers from the Kindle team at Amazon.com)

"Suggestion from a customer (Thank you!):
A number of people have complained that it's impossible to close the flap of the Kindle's cover without pressing one of the navigation buttons. I've found an easy solution for this: I simply put my Kindle to sleep before closing the cover. To do this, simply press Alt+AA as though you were waking it from sleep. (I wonder how many other undocumented features we're going to discover!)"

[gteague]

won't mount nor charge when connected via usb and in the 'off' condition.

perhaps this is too obvious to post, but i for one would have thought it would trickle charge in that state.

/guy

[rflashman]

Originally Posted by Just4Fun

(I wonder how many other undocumented features we're going to discover!)

That feature is documented, I learned of it reading the manual.

[Just4Fun]

OK. Thanks rflashman.

Sorry that I posted. I don't have my Kindle yet and the Amazon Technicians seemed unaware of the feature since a user mentioned it. Anyway, I tried to delete my post, but couldn't find an option to do it. Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

[zartemis]

Originally Posted by Just4Fun

Sorry that I posted.

No need to apologize, some folks don't read the manual, or skim and overlook, or forget because when they read it they didn't think they'd ever need that function.

E.g. I just learned of two ways to display time on the device (3 if you count settings), maybe these were in the manual, maybe not:

First, when reading a book, press Alt-T. This will replace the locations listing with a written description of the time (e.g. "seventeen to nine"). Second, on any screen press the search button and enter "@time". The latter gives the date as well.

[rflashman]

Originally Posted by zartemis

E.g. I just learned of two ways to display time on the device (3 if you count settings), maybe these were in the manual, maybe not:

First, when reading a book, press Alt-T. This will replace the locations listing with a written description of the time (e.g. "seventeen to nine"). Second, on any screen press the search button and enter "@time". The latter gives the date as well.

Oh, that Alt-T is nice! Where did you learn that one?

[rflashman]

Originally Posted by Just4Fun

OK. Thanks rflashman.

Sorry that I posted. I don't have my Kindle yet and the Amazon Technicians seemed unaware of the feature since a user mentioned it. Anyway, I tried to delete my post, but couldn't find an option to do it. Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

No need to apologize! That's the purpose of a forum like this, everyone gets to throw their two-cents in.

[Hadrien]

I've been wondering about something: Does the browser on the Kindle support OpenSearch extensions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSearch) ? We have OpenSearch description files on Feedbooks, and this could be a cool way to search for content using the Kindle.

[runciter]

Some of the tips/tricks have already been posted on this thread, but this is (supposed to be) the permalink to Amazon's Tips and Tricks page: linky

[tklaus]

Dropping your MP3-based podcasts into the 'Audible' folder on your Kindle or SD memory card will allow you to see the podcast in Home. When opened, you can bookmark, pause, fast forward, etc., just like you do with an audiobook.

This tip (from the Amazon Tips & Tricks page, thanks runciter!) seems to be a way around the normally random play of mp3's. It sounds like by putting your mp3's in the Audible directory you can actually select what you want to listen to, can someone with a Kindle in hand confirm that that's the case?

[zartemis]

Originally Posted by tklaus

This tip (from the Amazon Tips & Tricks page, thanks runciter!) seems to be a way around the normally random play of mp3's. It sounds like by putting your mp3's in the Audible directory you can actually select what you want to listen to, can someone with a Kindle in hand confirm that that's the case?

I posted about this here, and unfortunately was not able to get it to work.

Also, it lists the mp3s track by track, there is no grouping, even if you put them in folders (although it did find them all in folders). The Economist mp3s for one issue were on 70+ tracks, which cluttered up the listing too much and there was no way to get them queued to play, you had to wait for one track to finish and then select the next. Not good for playing through my car stereo which is how I'd hoped to use it.

But in my case, they didn't produce sound, so I didn't fiddle with it more.