How do you remove icons from the home screen of the iPhone?

C.Z., Dallas

As of today, you can't remove any of the icons that Apple includes with the iPhone.

But let's talk about the icons you can remove.

Not too long ago, Apple opened up the iPhone's home screen to a little customization. Users are free to move the icons around and add icons that are bookmarks to their favorite Web sites.

For instance, Bank of America has added a mobile Web site that's optimized for the iPhone. Once I surf to that page, I can press the "add bookmark" icon (it's a plus sign) below the page, and a screen will appear asking if I want to add the bookmark to the home screen.

If I click that button, the bookmark will appear just like any other program icon on the iPhone desktop.

Once you've run out of room on the desktop (there are 16 icon spaces per desktop) the icons will automatically be added to a second desktop. You switch between the two desktops by swiping your finger across the desktop to make it slide to the second or third or fourth desktop.

When the bookmark is saved to the desktop, the phone checks to see if the Web site includes a custom icon.

Bank of America and American Airlines are just two examples of companies that have great iPhone Web pages with nice-looking icons for your home screen.

If there isn't a custom icon for the bookmark (like from dallasnews.com), the phone will take a screen shot of the page and shrink it down for the icon.

A tip to make the bookmark look better: Zoom in on a specific part of the page before bookmarking it.

Now, once you have added some bookmarks to the home screen, you can move them around or delete them.

To put the phone into the mode where the icons can be moved, press and hold on any home screen icon for about three seconds.

All the icons will start to "shimmy," and the ones that can be removed will appear with a small X on the upper left corner of the icon.

Click the X to remove them.

You can move the icons while they're wiggling by dragging them with your finger. If you have a second desktop, you can move them to the right edge of the screen and the desktop will slide over to let you place it there.

Once you're finished moving and deleting the icons, press the home button below the screen and they'll calm down and return to normal mode.

Of course, Apple is introducing new software for iPhones this month, and there will be a Web site where you can buy applications from third-party developers.

I'm betting the moving and deleting of icons will be similar to how it works today.

If things change significantly, I'll write it up for a future column.

Jim Rossman is technical manager for Macintosh support for A.H. Belo Corporation.

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