Information Communication Technology 8 - Using Appleworks

A word processor is a computer application that is used to produce easy to read, professional-looking documents. It is a powerful tool that can used to make changes to (edit) and modify the look of (format) documents in a number of different ways. A document created in a word processor is edited electronically on the computer and printed later can be saved and then recalled at any time so that changes can be ma or another copy printed.

Using a word processor allows you to easily refine a document. correct an error or make an editing change, only those words requiring changes need to be retyped. Words, phrases, and whole paragraphs can be moved, copied, changed, or deleted. It is even possible to copy text from one document to another so that lengthy paragraphs or several pages of text can be included in the document without having to retyped.

With a word processor, a document can be viewed on the screen as it will appear when printed. This provides flexibility in deciding how it should look before printing copies.

The keyboard is used to enter text in the work area by pressing a letter key. There are also keys on the keyboard that are used to perform a specific action, such as moving the cursor or deleting text.

The cursor can be moved in a document's work area, without erasing or entering text, by using the cursor control keys. Because these keys are marked with arrows (up, down, left, and right), they are also called arrow keys. These keys can only be used to move the cursor where text has already been entered. To move the cursor down one line, press the key marked with a down arrow. To move the cursor up, left, or right, press the key marked with the appropriate arrow. Each of the arrow keys is a repeat key, meaning that it will continue moving the cursor as long as it is held down.

To insert new text, the cursor control keys are used to place the cursor where the new text is to appear, and then the new text is typed. Any text following the insertion is automatically moved to the right.

The Delete key is used to erase the character directly to the left of the cursor. When a character is deleted, any characters to its right are automatically moved over to fill the gap. Do not confuse the Delete key with the left-arrow key. Both move the cursor to the left, but Delete erases characters and the left-arrow key does not.

The Escape key (marked esc) is used to cancel (escape from) the computer's current operation. The specific effect that pressing the Escape key will have depends on the operation being performed.

In the word processor, the Return key is used to end a paragraph or to terminate any line that does not reach the right side of the Work area. When Return is pressed, the cursor moves to the next line. Return is also used to instruct your application to accept the default dialog box option.

One the most useful features of a word processing application is called word wrap. Unlike the old typewriter days when the next line had to be created by moving the carriage return arm or hitting the carriage return button, when text is typed in a word processor, it is not necessary to determine if the next word will fit on the end of the current line or if it must go on the next line. As you type, your application determines if there is sufficient room for a word at the end of a line. If there is not sufficient room, the word is automatically moved to the beginning of the next line. This process is called word wrap.

The advantages of word wrap can be seen when deleting or inserting text. When new text is added to a line, any words to the right are moved over. If there is not enough room on the current line, those words that do not fit are moved to the next line. There may be a "domino" effect as words move from one line to the next. Similarly, when text is deleted, words are moved up from the lines below.

Because of word wrap, the Return key should be used only to end a paragraph. Pressing the Return key moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line. Pressing Return again creates a blank paragraph. Therefore, to end a paragraph and insert a blank line before the next paragraph, press Return twice.

At the top of the your application window is the Menu bar. Each word on the bar is the name of a pull-down menu from which different commands can be selected. Pointing to a menu name and holding down the mouse button displays the commands of that menu. For example, pointing to the word "File" and holding down the mouse button displays the File menu:

Dragging the mouse pointer down the list highlights a command. Highlighted commands are shown in reversed text (white letters on a dark background). Releasing the mouse button on the highlighted command selects it. Releasing the mouse button with no command highlighted removes the menu from the screen.

In a menu, commands may have an ellipsis (>) following the command name (New and Open are 2 examples). This means that a dialog box asking for more information will appear when this command is selected.

One feature of a word processor is its ability to check the spelling of words in a document. In your application, this is accomplished by using the Check Document Spelling command from the Writing Tools submenu in the Edit menu. When spelling is checked, each word in a document is compared to words in a dictionary file. If a word is not found in the dictionary it is displayed in a dialog box:

From the Spelling dialog box, you can type a correction in the entry box or select a correctly spelled word from a list of suggestions, and then select Replace to make the correction in the document.

Because the dictionary file does not contain every word in the English language, the spell checker may display a correctly spelled word, such as a proper name or abbreviation. When this happens, Skip can be selected to ignore the word. If the word is one that you will use often, such as your name, you can have your application add it to the dictionary file by selecting Learn.