Thanks to iOS, we all know how to use Mobile Safari to scroll a web page or zoom in and out using pinch gestures. But did you know that one of the third-party browsers for your iPad can do all of that and much more, complete with tabs and desktop browsing spoofing?

If you’re looking for a little something extra from your iPad web browsing experience, look no further than Ingenious Creations’ Perfect Web Browser. Billed as “the fastest and most advanced, feature-packed web browser to date,” Perfect makes Mobile Safari look positively featureless by comparison, adding tabbed browsing, the ability to spoof desktop browsers (including Internet Explorer 6-8 and Firefox), VGA video out and a range of multitouch gestures that make you wonder how Apple didn’t think of them first.

Here’s a quick look at how to get your touch on with Perfect Web Browser for the iPad.

Desktop Scrolling

Perfect offers two better ways to scroll web pages in addition to the usual Mobile Safari method of flicking up or down with your finger. Much like a desktop browser, Perfect features a “Hyper Scroll Bar” which also doubles as a method to scroll with a single touch.

To enable the Hyper Scroll Bar on Perfect, first tap the gear icon to the left of the URL field, then tap Hyper Scroll, the third option from the bottom. Now you’ll see a scroll bar pop up for all web pages -- slide your finger up or down in the space between the arrows and you’ll make short work of even the longest web page, zipping back and forth like you’ve never done before on iOS.

If you’d rather be a little more lazy about it, Perfect also features automatic scrolling, thanks to the up and down arrows on the Hyper Scroll Bar. Tap either one and hold your finger in place and you’ll move in that direction, a little slowly at first but speeding up just a bit the longer you hold it.

Browsing Gestures

We all know pinch to zoom, but Perfect adds a few extra touches that make your web browsing an even more pleasant experience. These involve two different swipe gestures or two different tap gestures, depending on what you want to do.

Once you’ve taken advantage of Perfect’s browser tabs, you can easily switch between those tabs with a simple two-finger swipe across the screen -- to the right or the left, depending on which tab you want to reach. You’ll have to turn this option on in Settings first, but if the gesture still doesn’t work for you, make sure you have more than one tab open or else nothing will happen.

Along the same lines, you can also go through your browser History with a three-finger swipe to the left or right -- left takes you back through your History, while right takes you forward, assuming you have any activity in that direction.

Perfect also offers a couple of multitouch tap gestures -- a four-finger tap anywhere on the screen will make the browser exit fullscreen mode. Before you give it a try, make sure the feature is turned on in the Settings by tapping the gear icon, tapping the Settings button and sliding the “4 Finger tap to exit Fullscreen” option under the Gestures section.

Last but not least, you can open the Bookmarks window with by tapping the screen with all five fingers, rather than using only one to tap the star icon. Might seem like overkill, but if you plan to use Perfect’s fullscreen option a lot, the five-finger tap will actually save you a lot of time.

A Few Extra Niceties

You don’t see too many websites these days that use frames, but should you run across one, Perfect is ready for it. You can scroll through any frame with ease by simply using two fingers to activate scrolling within the frame, then move up or down as you wish.

Just because Perfect has tried to improve on the Mobile Safari experience, that doesn’t mean they have abandoned what’s best about Apple’s own browser -- if you want to jump to the top of a web page, you can still tap on the very top of the screen to do so.

If you’ve ever browsed with Mobile Safari and been frustrated that you’re forced to use the mobile version of a particular website, you’ll be happy to know that Perfect also allows desktop browser spoofing. Tap the gear icon, then Desktop Web Rendering and you’ll have your choice of a wide range of browsers to spoof: Mobile Safari, Safari iPad (which is the default setting), Safari iPhone, Safari Mac, Firefox 3.6, three flavors of Internet Explorer (6, 7 and 8), Opera 10.5 or even Google Chrome. Pick your poison and then tap Apply in the upper right corner to make your selection. In the event the selection doesn’t stick, Perfect advises you to close all tabs, open your Settings and tap Clear Cookies and History and then try it again.

Finally, Perfect gives you the ability to open a webpage and save it to your device for offline reading, even when an Internet connection is not available. To accomplish this task, tap the + icon and select Save Webpage -- now you can name it whatever you’d like (or use the default name) and choose which folder to save it to.

Is It The Browser For You?

Perfect Web Browser also offers a host of other features, including the ability to import bookmarks exported from your desktop browser as well as AirPrint support and full multitasking. Thankfully, Perfect is fast -- we timed a complete page opening of MacLife.com at only 11.7 seconds with a single tab open, which was only one second longer than Mobile Safari on the iPad opening the same page with no other active windows.

Perfect Web Browser certainly isn’t as slick as Mobile Safari -- some of the settings options are poorly laid out and the web page search dialogue box looks downright ugly, but for $2.99, the app offers a lot of bang for the buck, and who doesn’t love more touchscreen gestures anyway?

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