Word Processing

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Lecture 5

• Word Processing

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Word processors

• A word processor is a program that allows you to
  create, edit, format, store, retrieve and print
  text
• the document can easily be changed during
  composition
• the document can be saved electronically and
  reworked at a later date
• unlike a typewriter, a word processor separates
  the tasks of composing and printing a document

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Word processors

• its very easy to make a word processing document
  visually appealing
• most word processors today allow the integration
  of text and graphic images
• These features have been adopted from desktop
  publishing (discussed later)

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Features of a word processor

• WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
• the document you see on the screen is exactly
  what you get when the document is printed
• in contrast, a non-WYSIWYG document might
  contain, for example, the instruction, \bf
  Abstract to indicate that the word "Abstract" is
  to appear in boldface.

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Features of a word processor

• Scrolling
• document is like a scroll
• scroll bars allow you to move to any part of the
  document
• Word wrap
• as you type text, the word processor
  automatically manipulates it so that it fits on
  the page
• e.g., if theres not enough room at the end of a
  line to complete the word you are typing, the
  word processor automatically starts that word at
  the left margin of the next line

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Features of a word processor

• Formatting features
• these allow you to control the physical
  appearance of the document
• can format all or part of existing text or can
  specify the format of text to be written

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Formatting features

• Margins
• text appears within top, bottom, left and right
  margins
• default settings can be changed

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Formatting features

• centering
• vertical centering
• text centered vertically on page
• horizontal centering
• text centered horizontally on page

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Formatting features

• Justification
• left-justified text forms a smooth line against
  the left margin, (known as right-ragged text)
• fully-justified text forms a smooth line against
  left and right margins

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Formatting features

• line spacing
• single spacing, 1.5 spacing, double spacing,
  triple spacing
• boldface, italic, underlining
• can provide emphasis and clarity if used
  consistently

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Formatting features

• Typefaces/fonts
• sets of characters - letters, punctuation and
  numbers - of the same design
• E.g. Times New Roman abcdefg
• Or Courier abcdefg
• a font may be serif or sans serif

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Formatting features

• Font size can be changed, e.g.
• 18 point text looks like this
• 20 point text looks like this
• 24 point text looks like this
• 28 point text looks like this
• 32 point text looks like this
• 36 point text looks like this

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Formatting features

• Block operations can manipulate a block of text
  as a single unit
• mark text block manipulate text block
• e.g. change font of text block
• move block (Cut and Paste)
• copy block (Copy and Paste)

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Formatting features

• headers and footers
• text that appears at the head or foot of each
  page, e.g., page numbers, chapter headings
• widow and orphan control
• the last line of a paragraph wont be orphaned
  (separated from the rest of the paragraph at the
  top of a page)
• the first line of a paragraph wont be widowed
  (separated from the rest of the paragraph at the
  end of a page)

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Formatting features

• style sheets templates
• allow user to save a particular set of formatting
  options for future use
• Other features
• search
• search and replace
• print preview, allows the user to see the overall
  shape of a page at a glance
• spell checker, grammar checker, thesaurus

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Word processors vs. desktop publishing software

• Traditionally, word processor allowed you to
  manipulate text within a document
• desktop publishing software allowed you to
  integrate text, graphics and images into
  professional-looking documents
• users combined text manipulation capabilities of
  word processor with document composition
  capabilities of desktop publisher

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Word processors vs. desktop publishing software

• Today, word processor software provides more
  document-composition capabilities
• desktop publisher software incorporates more
  text-manipulation capabilities
• each continues to adopt features of the other
• Examples (word processors) Microsoft Word,
  Claris MacWrite, Corel WordPerfect
• Examples (desktop publishing packages) Adobe
  PageMaker, QuarkXPress