Chapter 5: Productivity Applications

Doug Engelbart Explores Hyperspace

One of the pioneers of the computer hardware and software

In 1968 he showed his Augment system,which were:

• Mouse


• Video display editing- movie making


• Mixed text and graphics, windowing


• Outlining


• Shared-screen video conferencing


• Computer conferencing


• Groupware


• Hypermedia

The Wordsmith's Toolbox
Working with a word processor involves several steps:

• Entering Text
  


• Editing Text



• Formattting the document



• Proofreading the document



• Saving the document on a disk



• Printing the document

Entering, Editing, and Formatting Text

• Entering Text
  


• Text is displayed onthe screen and stored in the computer's RAM
  


• Save your work periodically because RAM is not permanent memory
  
  Editing Text


• Navigate to different parts of document


• Insert or delete text at any point


• Move and copy text


• Search and replace words or phrases


• Word Processors and Other word tools

Formatting commands

• Formatting characters


• Characters are measured by the point size


• A font is a size and style typeface


• Serif fonts have serifs of fine lines at the ends of character


• You can use monospaced fonts of spaced fonts
  
  Formatting paragraphs involve:


• Margin settings


• Line spacing


• Indents


• Tabs


• Justification

Formatting the documents

• style sheets


• headers and footers


• multiple variable width columns


• graphics


• automatic editing features


• hidden comments


• table of contents and indexes


• coaching and helping feautures


• conversion to HTML
  
  
  Rules of Thumb: Word Processing Is Not Typing


• Use the return key only when you must


• Word wrap moves text to the next line


• Use tabs and margin guides, not the spacebar, to align columns


• WYSIWYG is a matter of degree


• Text that looks perfectly aligned onscreen may not line up on paper.


• Don't underline


• Use Italics and boldface for emphasis


• Use only one space after a period.


• Proportionally-spaced fonts look better without double space


• Take advantage of special characters


• bullets, dashes, curly or smart quotes

The Wordsmith's Toolbox

Outliners and Idea Processors are effective at:

• Arranging info into levels


• Rearranging ideas and levels


• Hiding and revealing of detail as needed.

Digital References

• Dictionaries, quotation books, atlases...


• The biggest advantage of the electronic form of speed.


• The biggest drawback is that

Synonym Finders

• A computerized thesarus that gives a variety of synonyms for a chosen

Spelling Checkers

• Compare words in your document with words in a disk-based dictionary.F7

Grammar and Style Checkers

• Analyze each word in context, checking for errors of content


• Check spelling


• Analyze prose complexity using measurements such as sentence length.

Form Letter Generators

• Mail merge capabilities produce personalized form letters.


• Create a datatbase with names


• Create a form letter


• Merge the database with the form letter to create personalized letter.


• Example: give info and email and your name comes up so that it's as if Muhammad Shareef is emailing you personally.


• You can incorporate custom paragraphs based n the recipient's personal data.


• Each letter looks ad of it were individually written.

Collaborative Writing Tools

• Groupware: software designed to be used by a workgroup


• Provides for collaborative writing and editing


• Example: Google documents


• Compares documents versions and highlights differences in documents

Emerging Word Tools

• Processing handwritten words


• Processing words with software that can reliably recognize human speech


• Anticipating a writer's needs, acting as a an electronic editor.

The Desktop Publishing Story

• The process of producing a book, magazine, or other publication includes several steps:





• Writing text





• Editing text





• Producing drawings, photos, and other grahics to accompany the text.





• Designing a basic format for the publication





• Typesetting text





• Arranging text and graphics on pages





• Typesetting and printing pages





• Binding pages into a finished publication





• With modern desktop publishing tech (DTP), the production process can be accomplished with sophisticated tools

Desktop publishing software:

Image-editing software

Page layout software combines ht evarious source docs into a coherent, visually appealing publication.

QuarkXpress

PageMaker

Adobe InDesign

Rules of Thumb:

Plan before you publlish

Use appropriate fonts.

Don;t go style crazy

View your document through your reader's eyes

Learn from the masters

Formulas can be:

Relative

Linking spreadsheets together

Financial management software: Quickbook - gives reliability

Mathematica

Statistical Software: Beyond Spreadsheets

Scientific Visualization

Scientific visualization software shape