Most of the time, you’ll read books with the NOOK Tablet held vertically—the standard reading mode. But there may come a time when you’d prefer to read in landscape mode—with the NOOK held horizontally. For example, you may come across a picture or photo that’s best viewed horizontally, or a table that looks best that way. Or you may just be in the mood for some widescreen reading—you renegade! No matter the reason, all you have to do is turn your NOOK so the longest side is at the bottom, and your NOOK automatically orients the book that way. Meanwhile, a small lock icon appears in the right corner of the screen and stays there for a few seconds. Tap it, and you lock the screen to the new orientation for any books you read (the icon changes to a locked lock). So even if you turn your NOOK back vertically, it still displays books in landscape mode. To let the NOOK change the book’s orientation as you change the orientation of the NOOK, turn the NOOK to another orientation, and when the locked icon appears, tap it so the lock opens.
Note
Turning the NOOK horizontally doesn’t always put it into landscape mode. For example, you’ll never see the Home screen in landscape mode. If you put the NOOK into landscape mode while reading a book, when you go back to the Home screen, sure enough, it’s vertically oriented.
When you’re viewing graphics or photos, the NOOK gives you an awesome power—the power to zoom. Tap the picture twice to zoom in. Tap the Close button at upper right to return to the normal view.
If you want to make sure your NOOK never changes orientation, tap the gear icon on the Notification bar so the Quick Settings screen appears. Then turn off the “Auto-rotate screen” checkbox. That way, the NOOK always stays in landscape mode. To let it change its orientation, check the box.