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Definition: word processing
The creation of text documents via computer. Except for labels and envelopes, word processing software has long since replaced the electric typewriter. Advanced word processors can function as elementary desktop publishing systems. Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing application (see Microsoft Word). WordPerfect and Google Docs are also widely used (see WordPerfect Office and Google Docs).
Basic Functions
Following are the functions people use all the time when creating or editing a document:
Text Editing, Word Wrap and Centering
Text can be deleted, typed over or inserted, and words at the right margin wrap to the next line. Text can be centered between left and right margins.
Copy, Move, Search and Replace
Text can be copied or moved within the document, and any occurrence of text can be replaced with another block of text.
Layout Settings
Margins, tabs, line spacing, indents, font changes, underline, bold and italic can be set and reset anywhere within the document.
Headers, Footers and Page Numbering
Headers and footers are common text printed on the top and bottom of every page. Page numbering in Roman numerals may be available.
Templates/Style Sheets
A document layout (margins, tabs, fonts, etc.) can be stored in a template file (style sheet) and applied to a new document.
Print Preview
A document can be reviewed on screen to show exactly how it will print with page breaks, headers, footers, etc.
Spell Checker
Spelling can be checked on the fly, and common typos may be corrected automatically.
File Management
Documents can be duplicated, renamed and deleted, and folders can be created and deleted from within the program.
Image Support
Images can be merged into the document and resized. As the document content increases or decreases, the images remain anchored where they were placed.
Advanced Functions
The following functions are available in most word processors:
Columns
All word processors support columns with tab stops. However, true column capability for documents, such as resumes and theater scripts, wraps words within each column; for example, employer information on the left and work history on the right. Magazine-style columns are another structure that flows the words from the bottom of one column to the top of the next.
Footnotes and Endnotes
Footnote entries can be made at any place in the document, and the footnotes printed at the end of a page or document.
Tables of Contents and Indexes
Tables of contents and indexes can be generated from entries typed throughout the document.
Math and Sorting
Columns of numbers can be summed and simple arithmetic expressions can be computed. Lines of text can be reordered into ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) sequence.
Mail Merge
Creates customized letters from a form letter and a list of names and addresses. The list can be created as a document or can be imported from popular database formats.
Thesaurus
A thesaurus displays synonyms for the word at the current cursor location.
Group Print
Documents can be printed individually or as a group with page numbers consecutively numbered from the first to the last document.
Graphics vs. Text Based
All word processors today are graphics based and show an extremely close facsimile on screen of the document that will be printed. Earlier text-based DOS programs displayed the same type font and size all the time, and they were fine for typing letters and documents with a simple format. Even today, some authors still use DOS word processors running under Windows, because they are more responsive than GUI-based products and more than adequate for creative writing. See XyWrite.
Format Standards
Every major word processing program generated proprietary codes for layout settings. For example, in an old WordStar document, ^PB turned bold on as well as off. In WordPerfect, [BOLD] turns bold on, and [bold] turns it off.
The User Interface
Word processing programs have run from the ridiculous to the sublime, and some of the most awkward programs sold well. It may be difficult to tell a good one from a bad one in the beginning, because it takes time to explore a program's nuances. Also, what is acceptable to the slow typist can be horrendous for the fast typist.
Following are the functions people use all the time when creating or editing a document:
Text Editing, Word Wrap and Centering
Text can be deleted, typed over or inserted, and words at the right margin wrap to the next line. Text can be centered between left and right margins.
Copy, Move, Search and Replace
Text can be copied or moved within the document, and any occurrence of text can be replaced with another block of text.
Layout Settings
Margins, tabs, line spacing, indents, font changes, underline, bold and italic can be set and reset anywhere within the document.
Headers, Footers and Page Numbering
Headers and footers are common text printed on the top and bottom of every page. Page numbering in Roman numerals may be available.
Templates/Style Sheets
A document layout (margins, tabs, fonts, etc.) can be stored in a template file (style sheet) and applied to a new document.
Print Preview
A document can be reviewed on screen to show exactly how it will print with page breaks, headers, footers, etc.
Spell Checker
Spelling can be checked on the fly, and common typos may be corrected automatically.
File Management
Documents can be duplicated, renamed and deleted, and folders can be created and deleted from within the program.
Image Support
Images can be merged into the document and resized. As the document content increases or decreases, the images remain anchored where they were placed.
The following functions are available in most word processors:
Columns
All word processors support columns with tab stops. However, true column capability for documents, such as resumes and theater scripts, wraps words within each column; for example, employer information on the left and work history on the right. Magazine-style columns are another structure that flows the words from the bottom of one column to the top of the next.
Footnotes and Endnotes
Footnote entries can be made at any place in the document, and the footnotes printed at the end of a page or document.
Tables of Contents and Indexes
Tables of contents and indexes can be generated from entries typed throughout the document.
Math and Sorting
Columns of numbers can be summed and simple arithmetic expressions can be computed. Lines of text can be reordered into ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) sequence.
Mail Merge
Creates customized letters from a form letter and a list of names and addresses. The list can be created as a document or can be imported from popular database formats.
Thesaurus
A thesaurus displays synonyms for the word at the current cursor location.
Group Print
Documents can be printed individually or as a group with page numbers consecutively numbered from the first to the last document.
All word processors today are graphics based and show an extremely close facsimile on screen of the document that will be printed. Earlier text-based DOS programs displayed the same type font and size all the time, and they were fine for typing letters and documents with a simple format. Even today, some authors still use DOS word processors running under Windows, because they are more responsive than GUI-based products and more than adequate for creative writing. See XyWrite.
Every major word processing program generated proprietary codes for layout settings. For example, in an old WordStar document, ^PB turned bold on as well as off. In WordPerfect, [BOLD] turns bold on, and [bold] turns it off.
Word processing programs have run from the ridiculous to the sublime, and some of the most awkward programs sold well. It may be difficult to tell a good one from a bad one in the beginning, because it takes time to explore a program's nuances. Also, what is acceptable to the slow typist can be horrendous for the fast typist.