Hello Writers and People who use word processors,
According to Wikipedia: “A word processor is an electronic device or computer software application that performs the task of composing, editing, formatting, and printing of documents.”
You’ve certainly used Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, Google Docs, Open Office, or one of a million different variations on the theme. There are also WYSIWYG variations for blogs and website programs.
These programs are pretty universal in how they work and unfortunately so are the errors people make while using them.
5. Tabs
They can be useful in formatting spaces to a certain extent but they shouldn’t be used in the place of indents. If you want indents find out how to do it through text properties.
4. Spaces
Modern programs compensate for the lack of space in between sentences. Because of this you do not need to add two spaces.
Beyond that, do not use spaces to place, align, indent, or move an object or word in your document. Doing so is unreliable and there are much easier ways to do it using various features in the program.
3. Paragraph Marks
There are two kinds of breaks. Soft and Hard. Soft ones break a sentence and should be used sparingly.
Hard returns break a paragraph. A common mistake is to use breaks or Paragraph marks, as they’re also called, to create space between paragraphs. This leaves you with three paragraphs where one is empty. That space can be controlled much easier and more effectively in the settings of the paragraph.
2. Styles
They might be called something different but basically they’re pre-formatted templates for a piece of text. Styles let you apply all the same formatting to your headings, paragraphs, etc.
Using styles means you have a consistent look. In all the programs, you can customize them for font, size, indents, spacing, paragraph spacing, kerning, alignment, colour, etc.
Using Heading styles allows you to auto-generate table of contents and internal document links.
1. Table Layout
Tables should be used for tables. Nothing else. They are not a layout tool, they are not meant to be used to control the look and flow of a document. If you want columns use the columns feature.
Use tables as a last resort and only if you absolutely must include data.
A bulleted list or headings often convey the same information.
Knowing what the Word Processor can do and using the proper feature will save you huge amounts of time.
Keep on Processing,
Éric