- •Document production software
- •How does document production software help me turn my
- •Ideas into sentences and paragraphs? Document production software
- •Can document production software improve my writing?
- •Can document production software help me break bad writing
- •Figure 3-10
- •Spreadsheet software
- •Figure 3-12
- •How figure 3-15
- •How will I know which formulas and functions to use when
- •Aside from spreadsheets, what other “number crunching”
- •Figure 3-16
- •Is designed to keep records of income, expenses, assets, and liabilities using
- •Database software
- •Figure 3-19
- •Figure 3-20
- •Inaccurate information into a database. Respect copyrights, giving credit to
Figure 3-10
In this document, coaster
names were formatted
by selecting the Heading
style with a single click
instead of individually
selecting a font color,
font size, and font style.
Now if the Heading style
is changed to green, for
example, all the coaster
names will automatically
change from blue
to green. Your digital
textbook will walk you
through the process of
defining and using styles Page layout refers to the physical position of each element on a page. In
addition to paragraphs of text, these elements might include:
• Headers and footers. A header is text that you specify to automatically
appear in the top margin of every page. A footer is text that you specify to
automatically appear in the bottom margin of every page. You might put
your name and the document title in the header or footer of a document
so that its printed pages won’t get mixed up with those of another printed
document.
• Page numbers. Word processing and DTP software automatically numbers
the pages of a document according to your specifications, usually
placing the page number within a header or footer. A Web page, no matter
what its length, is all a single page, so Web authoring software typically
doesn’t provide page numbering. • Graphical elements. Photos, diagrams, graphs, and charts can be
incorporated in your documents. Clip art—a collection of drawings and
photos designed to be inserted in documents—is a popular source of
graphical elements.
• Tables. A table is a grid-like structure that can hold text or pictures. For
printed documents, tables are a popular way to produce easy-to-read columns
and rows of data and to position graphics. It may sound surprising,
but for Web pages, tables provide one of the few ways to precisely position
text and pictures. As a result, Web page designers make extensive and
very creative use of tables.
Most word processing software is page-oriented, meaning that it treats
each page as a rectangle that can be filled with text and graphics. Text
automatically flows from one page to the next. In contrast, most DTP
software is frame-oriented, allowing you to divide each page into several
rectangular-shaped frames that you can fill with text or graphics. Text flows
from one frame to the next, rather than from page to page (Figure 3-11).
FIGURE 3-11
DTP frames give you
exact control over the
position of elements on
a page, such as a figure
and a caption on top of
it. Want to see how
desktop publishing software
works? Start the
tour for this figure in your
digital textbook.
Does document production software increase productivity?
Word processing software, in particular, provides several features
that automate tasks and allow you to work more productively. For example,
suppose that you want to send prospective employers a letter and your
resume. Instead of composing and addressing each letter individually, your
software can perform a mail merge that automatically creates personalized
letters by combining the information in a mailing list with a form letter. Some
additional capabilities of word processing software include:
• Automatically generating a table of contents and an index for a document
• Automatically numbering footnotes and positioning each footnote on the
page where it is referenced
• Providing document templates and document wizards that show you the
correct content and format for a variety of documents, such as business letters,
fax cover sheets, and memos
• Exporting a document into HTML format for use on the Web
Your work area is framebased—
you position text
and graphics in rectangular
boxes that you can then
move, resize, and overlap.
A toolbar provides easy access
to frequently used DTP tools.
You can link text from one
frame to another so it is
easy to continue an article
on a different page