This document discusses word processors and their advantages over typewriters. It defines a word processor as software that allows users to create, edit, and format documents on a computer rather than a typewriter. The main advantages of word processors are that they allow users to easily correct mistakes, delete or insert text, and reformat documents without retyping the entire document. More advanced features of modern word processors include collaborative editing, automatic indexing, version control, and non-printing comments and annotations.
2. Definitions
A type of software that displays characters based on a user's input on an external or
internal keyboard. The software allows the user to edit, modify, and format
documents based on display preferences. The most common word processors are
Microsoft Word and WordPerfect.
A machine similar to a typewriter that prints text as a user strokes keys on a
keyboard. These machines have mostly been replaced with personal computers.
In the past, typewriters were used to prepare documents. Once the document is
created on the paper, it cannot be edited again. The typewriter providers no facility
for formatting the documents etc. The images are manually inserted in the
documents.
3. You can make changes without retyping the entire
document.
You can easily correct typing mistakes.
You can easily delete text from document.
It is easy to insert a word, sentence, or paragraph in
the middle (or any location) of a document.
You can easily shift a portion of document from one
place to another within a document, or between
different documents.
You can send the document to a printer to get a hard
copy. Many hard copies of the document can be
created.
The main advantages of Word processor over
using a typewriter are as follows:
4. More advanced features found in recent word processors
include:
Collaborative editing, allowing multiple users to work on the
same document.
Indexing assistance. (True indexing, as performed by a
professional human indexer, is far beyond current technology,
for the same reasons that fully automated, literary-quality
machine translation is.)
Creation of tables of contents.
Management, editing, and positioning of visual material
(illustrations, diagrams), and sometimes sound files.
5. Automatically managed (updated) cross-references to pages
or notes.
Version control of a document, permitting reconstruction of
its evolution.
Non-printing comments and annotations.
Generation of document statistics (characters, words,
readability level, time spent editing by each user).
"Styles", which automate consistent formatting of text body,
titles, subtitles, highlighted text, and so on.