In any case, I never claimed that this information was ‘obvious’ (as you suggested I did), I simply pointed out that this information is presented in the *very first chapter* of Apple’s iPad documentation (before the “Getting Started” section, even).

Therefore, you calling this a “hidden control panel” is akin to calling the Start button on Windows a “secret access menu”. It is both inaccurate and misleading.

“Just because you think it’s obvious doesn’t mean everyone else does, too.” Uh, that’s not what Guzzi said.

In fairness, you could say he implied it, but very indirectly. He did clearly point out that the info is in Chapter One of the user guide, which would actually involve opening the guide and, gasp, actually reading it. Actually, to add to his comment, I would have to say that the lost art of reading has resulted in the dumbing down of the majority, as evident by the types of questions users ask on various tech blogs. And for the iPad user who didn’t know “these controls existed”, I would suggest doing the obvious – look at the user guide first!

I wrote this article for a new iPad user who told me she had no idea these controls existed—and since publishing this how-to, I’ve heard from many other beginning iPad users who didn’t know about the control panel, either. Just because it isn’t “hidden” as far as you’re concerned doesn’t mean it’s totally obvious to everyone.