Word processor is software that allows users to create, edit, and print documents. Several word processors exist in the market with MS Word being the most common. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common.
What is a Word Processor?
A word processor is software that allows users to create, edit, and print documents. Using a word processor, you can write text, store it electronically, display it on a screen, modify it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard, and print it. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common. Today, most word processors are delivered either as a cloud service or as software that users can install on a PC.
History of Word Processing
Word processors started in standalone machines like typewriters in the 1960s. The great advantage of word processors over using a typewriter is the ability to make changes without retyping the entire document. Word processing began to move to personal computers in the 1980s. They started with What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) word processors that showed users exactly what would print on their final documents became more popular. One of those WYSIWYG word processors, Microsoft Word, became dominant in the 1990s. Now, word processing can be run via a browser-based application through the application of cloud computing. Many users found that cloud-based word processors offered enough features to meet their needs, as well as greater convenience, mobility, and collaboration support.
Examples of Common Word Processors
The most common word processors include Microsoft Word (Microsoft product), Google Docs (online word processors), OpenOffice Writer, etc. Google Docs works on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome as well as Safari, and it is free like OpenOffice Writer.
Microsoft Word overview
Standard and Advanced Features of Word
Standard Features
All word processors support the following basic features: insert text: (insert text anywhere in the document), delete text: (erase characters, words, lines, or pages), cut and paste: (remove (cut) a section of text and insert (paste) it somewhere else), copy: (duplicate a section of text), page size and margins, search and replace, word wrap: (automatic move to the next line when you have filled one line with text, and it will readjust text if you change the margins), print: (send a document to a printer to get a hard copy), file management: (file management capabilities such as create, delete, move, and search for files), font specifications, (font types, size and styles such as normal, bold, italics, and underlining), windows: (edit two or more documents at the same time with each document appears in a separate window), spell checking: (identifies words that don’t appear in a standard dictionary).
Advanced Features
Full-featured word processors usually support the following advanced features: grammar checking: (identifies sentences, paragraphs, and punctuation that doesn’t appear to meet commonly recognized rules of grammar), footnotes and cross-references: (Automates the numbering and placement of footnotes and enables you to easily cross-reference other sections of the document), automated lists: (bulleted or numbered lists, and multi-level outlines), graphics: (embed illustrations, graphs), headers, footers, and page numbering: (specify customized headers and footers at the top and bottom of every page), layout: (specify different margins within a single document and to specify various methods for indenting paragraphs), macros: (enable users to define and run macros, a character or word that represents a series of keystrokes), merge: (merge text from one file into another file when generating many files that have the same format but different data such as mailing labels), tables of contents and indexes: (automatic create a table of contents and index), thesaurus: (search for synonyms), collaboration: (track changes to the document when more than one person is editing), Internet features: (embed Web links into the document), translation and speech: (artificial intelligence capabilities to read text aloud, to accept voice commands, and to translate text from one language to another)C
Common Terminologies in Word Processor
The most common terminologies used in word processors include Cursor/Insertion Point, Word-wrap, Paragraph, Formatting, Toggle, etc. Cursor/Insertion Point is a flashing vertical bar on the screen where your text will appear when you start to type. The mouse pointer will be an I-beam on your document window and can be used to move the insertion point by clicking the left mouse button. Word-wrap is applied in word processors when you reach the end of the line where the computer will automatically go to the next line.
One difference between a word processor and a typewriter is that, in the typewriter, you will be required to hit a carriage return key at the end of every line while in word processing, we only want to hit the return (enter) key at the end of the paragraph. A paragraph is defined as going from one enter keystroke to the next time you hit the enter key. So, every time you hit the enter key, you create a new paragraph.
Formatting in word processing is used to refer to a change of the appearance of your text either by features that affect characters and only what is highlighted or features that affect the entire paragraph. You can highlight text by clicking with the mouse (holding down the left mouse button) and dragging the mouse cursor over the text.
Another way of highlighting is to hold the shift key down and press the arrow keys to move the highlight in the direction that you want. A toggle means a switch that can be turned on or off when using toggle options such as Bold, Underline, and Italics.
Non-Printing Characters include several keystrokes that are used all the time but do not print. They include hitting the space bar, tab key, and enter key. The font is the style of character that your text is in. Some common font types include Arial, Arial Narrow, Times New Roman, Garamond, Monotype Corsiva, Batang, etc.
Font Size shows how big or small your text is. The larger the number selected the larger the size. Some fonts have more sizes available to them. Again size, just like font, is printer-dependent. You can also use as many sizes as you feel like in your papers.