Word Processing and Desktop Publishing

Tom Kelliher, CS14F

Oct. 8, 1996

A Bit of Publishing History

1. Hand-carving wooden blocks.

2. The printing press.

3. The typewriter.

4. Word Processors, word processing software for microcomputers (MS Word, WordPerfect, AmiPro).

Advantages of a word processor over a typewriter?

Freedom of the press is a right only if you own one.

Has the Internet expanded individual's rights?

Basic Features of Word Processors

The ``workflow'': Write, Edit, Format, Save, Print.

Do you work linearly, or skip back-and-forth?

1. Getting help.

2. Dragging the mouse.

3. The ``select, apply'' model.

Writing

1. Word Wrap.

2. Paragraphs.

3. Displaying Formatting.

Editing

1. Views: normal, page layout.

2. Insert mode vs. typeover mode.

3. Cutting and Pasting. Dragging.

4. Moving the cursor around quickly:
   1. Beginning, end of line.

   2. Beginning, end of document.

5. The Clipboard.

6. Selection shortcuts:
   1. Word --- double click word.

   2. Sentence --- Hold down ctrl, click in sentence.

   3. Paragraph --- Double click in ``selection area.''

   4. Line --- Click in selection area.

   5. Multiple lines --- Drag through selection area.

   6. Entire document --- Hold down shift, click in selection area.

   7. Arbitrary blocks of text --- drag over the block.

7. Undo.

Formatting

1. Start with page setup under File menu.

2. Margins (page setup).

3. Indentation (paragraph, ruler).

4. Spacing (paragraph).

5. Text justification (paragraph, toolbar).

6. Underlining, bold, italics.

7. Fonts.

8. Point size --- 1/72nd inch.

Saving

1. Drives.

2. Open.

3. Save.

4. Save as.

Printing

1. Print preview

2. Print setup

3. Printing

Advanced Features

1. Spell check.

2. Thesaurus

3. Grammar check.

Writing Quality Consequences

1. Form over function.

2. Verbosity.

3. Ease of reorganizing.

4. ``Explaining'' a poorly organized paragraph.

Exercises

1. Finish projects one and two. You must hand-in the documents today to receive credit.

2. Do project 4. Add your name to the header, under the title. Print only the first page of the report and hand it in.