When browsing web sites it is essential to use the scroll bars. Scroll bars have been a fixture of web sites for as long as I can remember and we all know intuitively how to use them. No training is required. We see a list of items or icons in a window and when the window gets full the scroll bars automatically appear allowing us to scroll through the expanded content.  With the introduction of the iPad, we learned a new way to scroll–using our fingers.

Some web sites have windows within the main window. Examples would include the photo selection window in Flickr or an edit window in a new blog page at WordPress or one of the classroom forum windows in an online learning page at the University of Phoenix. The iPad has no scroll bars and so it is not so obvious how to use sites such as these. Like me, you may have become frustrated by an apparent bug in Safari–it has no scrollbars–therefore making it impossible to perform certain functions.

Doing some research on this problem I found TheDesignspace, a site for “web development & elearning solutions, tutorials, great ideas”, who said that the lack of scrollbars “is not a bug, it is by design”.  They explain that scrolling inside of windows on the iPad is done using a two finger scroll. “Hold two fingers together and brush up and to the right across the area you want to scroll. If two fingers does not seem to work, try three. When it is working it is quite easy and smooth.” I tried it on all my problem sites. Sure enough, it works great! I learn something every day.