WORD PROCESSING TERMS

1. What are the five main tasks performed with a word processor?

The five tasks performed with a word processor are to create, edit, format, save and print documents.

2. What does it mean to format something? Name three different types of objects that a word processor can format.

To format something means to change its appearance or its location on screen. The three different objects a word processor can format are characters, paragraphs and documents. Examples of formats are bold or italics for characters, indents or alignment for paragraphs and margins or print orientation for documents. Some word processing programs can work with a fourth object, a section. A section is a subdivision of a document that can have its own margins, headers or footers.

3. Word processors have a feature called Word Wrap. Define the term Word Wrap.

Unlike typewriters, with word processing programs there is no need to press the enter key at the end of a line of text when you want to create a new line. Word processor programs keep track of how many characters there are in a word and can sense the approach of the right margin. When a word is too long to fit on a line, the word processor program automatically creates a new line and drops the word down onto that line.

4. Name three uses for the Enter key.

Three uses for the Enter key are to:

1. Create a new paragraph.
2. To create blank lines between paragraphs.
3. To break an existing paragraph into two separate paragraphs.

5. What two keys can you use to remove blank lines between paragraphs? What is the difference between the two keys?

The two key that can remove one character at a time are backspace or delete. Press the backspace key and you remove one character at a time to the left of the insertion point. Press delete and you remove one character at a time to the right of the insertion point.

6. What is a block? Describe two different ways to select a block.

A block is any collection of characters that you highlight or select using either the mouse or the keyboard. To select a block with the mouse, click and drag the mouse pointer over the text you want to select. To select a block with the keyboard, hold down the shift key and, while holding shift down, press any of the keys used to move the insertion point such as any of the four arrow keys.

7. Briefly describe two ways to copy or cut text.

When you copy and paste text, you duplicate it, that is, the original text remains where it was and a duplicate of that text is placed somewhere else in the same document or in a different document. When you cut and paste text, you move or relocate it to another location in the same document or into another document. Highlighted text is removed from its original location and placed somewhere else. Before you can copy or cut text, you must highlight it using one of the method described above for selecting a block of text. Once the text is highlighted, you can choose the Copy or Cut commands from the Edit menu or use the keyboard shortcuts for Copy or Cut. The keyboard shortcut for Copy is control+C; Cut is control+X.

8. Briefly describe two ways to undo mistakes you might make in a document.

Choose the Undo command from the Edit menu to undo a mistake. While some programs have a multi-level undo (you can undo more than your last action) most programs only let you undo your last action. If you can’t use Undo to correct a mistake, another option is to close your document without saving any changes. While closing you work without saving changes will allow you to reverse unwanted changes to a document, you may also lose desired changes too. Use this method only as a last resort.

9. What is an indent? Include in your answer four different types of indents.

An indent is an amount of space between one or more lines in a paragraph and the page margins. The four types of indents are:
Left; all lines of a paragraph are moved in from the left margin.
Right; all lines of a paragraph are moved in from the right margin.
First line; the first line is to the right of all other lines.
Hanging; the first line is to the left of all others.

10. What is the difference between a hanging indent and a first line indent?

A paragraph with a hanging indent has the first line to the left of all other lines in the same paragraph; a paragraph with a first line indent has the first line to the right of all others. Although all other lines of a paragraph with a first line indent often start at the left margin, sometimes the other lines are themselves indented also.

11-14. Name and describe each of the four types of paragraph alignment.

Paragraph alignment has to do with how the lines of a paragraph line up in relation to the margins of a document. The four types of paragraph alignment are: left, right, center and justified.
Left: The left side of a left aligned paragraph lines up smoothly with the left margin while the right side of the paragraph is uneven or ragged.
Right: The right side of a right aligned paragraph lines up smoothly with the right margin while the left side is uneven or ragged.
Center: The lines of a center aligned paragraph line up with the center of the page; neither the left nor the right side of a center aligned paragraph are lined up smoothly with the margins.
Justified: The lines on both sides of a justified paragraph line up smoothly with the margins.

15. Discuss the term inherit as it applies to paragraph formatting. Name three things a paragraph might inherit.

Each time you press the enter key, you create a new paragraph. The new paragraph automatically inherits (acquires) all formats from the paragraph that contained the insertion point when the enter key was pressed, usually the paragraph above. Some formats that a new paragraph may inherit are font, font size, alignment, indents and tabs.

16. What must I do before I can change the format of text I have already typed into a document?

In order to change the format of text already entered into a document, you must first select the text. With the text selected, choose the formats you want to apply.

17. Discuss the differences between monospaced and proportional fonts.

One way to categorize fonts used by a word processor is by the amount of space each character occupies on a page. With monospaced fonts, every character takes up the same amount of space on a page. Whether it is a small i or a capital W, every character takes up the same amount of space. Proportional fonts are different. With proportional fonts, each character takes up only as much space as it needs. Another way of saying this; each character takes up an amount of space proportional to its width. Almost all fonts used by word processing programs are proportional. The only common exception is Courier. Courier is a monospaced font whose characters look like they were created with a typewriter.

18. Name three different ways to apply formats to text.

Formats can be applied by selecting a command from the format menu, by clicking a toobar icon or with keyboard shortcuts.

19. What happens when I press the Tab key? What are tabs most often used to do?

When you press the tab key, the insertion point moves a fixed amount of space to the right, usually one half inch. Tabs are most often used to create columns of text whose lines all begin the same distance from the left margin.

20. Define the terms header and footer.

Word processing programs reserve space at the top and bottom of every page in a document. A header is text that prints in the reserved space at the top of every page in a document. A footer is text that prints in the reserved space at the bottom of every page in a document. Although headers and footers print at the top and bottom of every page in a document, you only type header or footer text once, usually in a header or footer dialog box. Once you have entered the text in the appropriate dialog box, the word processing program places the text in the appropriate location on every page in the document.

21. How can I get an overview of a document before I print it?

The Print preview command allows you to view the pages of a document in a miniature view. It is a good idea to use the Print preview command before actually printing your work. By previewing your work before printing, you can catch formatting errors you might otherwise miss in normal view. If you do find errors, you can go back to normal view and correct the errors before printing, saving time, paper and toner.

22. What is mail merge? What are the two types of documents used in a mail merge?

Mail merge allows you to quickly and easily create individualized copies of a form letter for large numbers of people. A mail merge uses two files, a primary document and a data document. The primary document is the actual form letter. The data document contains the names, addresses and other related information used to personalize the form letter. When you give the merge command, the word processor combines (merges) the particular information such as a customer’s name and address into the appropriate location in the form letter, creating a letter addressed to each individual listed in the data document.

23. It isn't necessary to print an entire document every time. Name three different options you have for printing less than an entire document.

Word offers you three options for printing less than an entire file. You can print just the current page, the page that contains the insertion point. You can print a range of pages or you can select (highlight) just some of the text in a document and print only whatever you select.

24. Define the terms Portrait and Landscape as applied to printing a document.

There are two orientations you can choose for printing a file, portrait or landscape. When you print a file in portrait orientation, the file is printed in the typical vertical layout. A file printed in landscape orientation is printed sideways along the widest dimension of the page. Remember, when printing in landscape mode, you don’t adjust the paper in the printer. The word processing program takes care of printing the page according to whatever choice you make.

25. What is HTML? How do I convert a word processing document into HTML?

The letters HTML stand for hyper text markup language. HTML is a set of codes applied to text that control how a page on the world wide web appears. With today's newer word processing programs such as Word, to convert a document into its HTML equivalent, choose Save as Web page from the file menu.