1.3 Word processors

A word processor is a computer application used documents such as letters, memos and reports. for the production of any sort of printable material. A word processor has not only replaced the traditional typewriter but can assist the user with tasks requiring intelligence, automatically. The latest versions of word processing software contain many features and can also be used for "desktop publishing" to create newsletters, brochures, business cards, signs and more. Figure 2.1 shows a screen shot of the Microsoft Office Word Processing software.

Features of a word processor include:

a) Type into columns, add pictures and charts to a page, create custom borders, and experiment with a variety
     of typefaces (fonts) in a wide range of sizes. A user can even combine different fonts on the same page.

b) Formatting and editing features to make the user’s work easier. A user can easily check the spelling of a
    word or the entire document. The built in thesaurus will help the user find an alternate word to use. Blocks of
    text can be easily moved, copied or erased.

c) Macros allow a user to record phrases that need to be used more than once and then "play back the text"      (automatically type it onto the page) in other documents - as many times as required.

1.3 Word processors

d) Search and replace features allow a user to easily find words in a document and provides the option of replacing      with a different word or phrase.

e) Built in grammar checkers will read the user’s document and make suggestions on changes the user may want to    consider to have the document conform to various writing styles. Grammar checkers is available to find punctuation    errors and improper capitalization of words.

f) Compile a large group of form letters (mail merge), print envelopes, number pages or lines, build an index and    table-of-contents for a book, use headers and footers (text that appears at the top or bottom of each page), and use    footnotes (appears at the bottom of the page that contains the footnote number) and end notes (appears at the end    of a document).

g) Paragraph formatting makes it easy to change margins. If a user changes the margins after he/she has typed the    document, the text will automatically wrap to fit the new margin setting! Tabs can be set or changed and the user    can indent either the first line of a paragraph or the entire paragraph. "Bullets" can be added for emphasis. A user    can also center his/her text or align the text with the right margin, left margin, or both.

1.3 Word processors

h) The "table" feature of word processing software allows the user to create and use custom forms. Tables allow the     user to access built-in math features to automatically calculate numbers you enter onto the form.

1.3 Word processors

Newer word processing software contains voice dictation and handwriting recognition features. Voice dictation allows a user to speak into a microphone and have his/her text typed automatically onto the screen. Handwriting recognition allows the user to write with a pencil-like "stylus" on a drawing pad and the computer will convert the handwriting to type on the screen. These features are only effective if the user take the time to "train" the computer to recognize his/her voice or handwriting.

Perhaps the most useful feature of using a computer for word processing is that ability to make changes and corrections, as often as we need, without making a mess of the project and having to retype the document. We can edit our document on the computer screen and print it when all the corrections have been made. If we spot mistakes in our printed copy, the document will still be on the screen and can be easily corrected without retyping! If we don't have time to finish our document, we can store it on a disk. When we are ready to continue working on the project, we can retrieve a copy of it from the disk onto the screen.

Examples of word processors include Microsoft Word (most popular), Corel WordPerfect, Lotus Word Pro and the OpenOffice.org Writer from Open-source applications. "WordPad" is a small word processor that comes free with the Microsoft Windows operating system. It has most of the basic features of a word processor, but does not contain advanced features such as spell checking and thesaurus, grammar checker, and a few other features. Online word processors such as Google Docs are a relatively new category.