Word Processing

 

Word Processing: The most commonly used application program is Word Processing. Ninety-five percent of all computer users use some type of Word Processing software. There are many brand names available, but the two most commonly bought are WordPerfect and Microsoft Word.� Today, if a user learns WordPerfect, he or she will be able to easily use Word and visa versa. Word Processing is used to create documents like letters, memos, and reports.

 

Creating a document has five parts. They are:

1. Create - type the document and fix minor errors as you go.
2. Edit - proofread and make changes to the documeent.

   Editing features include searching for a word or phrase, searching to replace, copying or moving text, and using tools like the spell checker, thesaurus, and grammar checker.

3. Format - to make changes to the document that willl effect how it is seen once printed.

   Formatting features include vertical centering, line alignment (how the lines show between the margins) including left, right, center, or justified alignment, setting margins, tabs, and indents, line spacing, changing the text font type or size, adding attributes like bold, italics, or underline, adding page numbers (pagination), footers, headers, footnotes or endnotes, adding clipart or other images created in other types of applications. Any thing that will change the appearance of your document when printed is considered a formatting feature. As you can guess, this is where many people spend a lot of their time. You have a wonderful picture on page 343 in your book that shows many formatting features.

4. Saving - saving the document to a unique filenamee permanently
5. Printing - printing the document

There are three different ways to view a document using Word. One is to use the percentage icon found on the right side of the tool bar. The default is that you see at 100%, which means that you can most likely see about half of your document at one time. Another way to change the view is to use the View choice on the menu. Normal will show you the largest screen area; Page Layout will show you any page formatting features you might have (like page numbers, footers, or footnotes). Both of these views have nothing to do with printing your document. They are only choices affecting what you see on the screen.

 

Word is considered a WYSIWYG program. WYSIWYG is an acronym that stands for What You See Is What You Get. It means that if you make a change such as bolding some words or changing your margins, you can see this change immediately on screen. Today, every Windows based program is WYSIWYG. The third way of viewing a document does have to do with printing. Print Preview shows you what you will get when you print your document. The icon is found on the standard tool bar. It is the fifth button from the left. You can also find it under File on the menu. Print Preview allows you not only to check your formatting, but also take an opportunity to proofread before printing - always a good thing.

 

On page 140 of your book they discuss voice recognition.� Voice recognition software allows the user to speak into a microphone and have the words appear on a page.� IBM ViaVoice and Dragon Naturally Speaking are two of the brand names of voice recognition software mentioned.� Dragon Naturally Speaking is probably the more popular of the two.� What you might not know is that you have a voice recognition built into the later versions of Microsoft Word.� You can find this feature under Tools on the menu.

 

Word processing features, concepts, and vocabulary are shown on pages 139-142 and there is a very nice table on page 140 that discusses many Word Processing features.

 

 

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