Word Processing – Assignment #1
You will create a one page announcement flyer. Be sure to follow the directions carefully.
Experienced students:
If you already have some experience with word processors or with Word, you may already know an easier or more efficient method of doing things than I use in the directions. Since we cannot talk about everything at once, sometimes the better method has to wait until later. Be patient. Then again, perhaps you will learn a technique that is better in some situations than the one you know!
Task:
You will create an advertising flyer for a travel agency. You will cleverly use a large number of Word’s buttons and commands to create an attractive document. The process is broken down into a number of steps, which also will introduce you to various methods of formatting your document. Follow all of the directions carefully. Save your document often!!
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Before you begin:
Design Considerations
When creating announcements and other flyers, your goal is to capture the reader’s attention and make them actually read the whole thing. You don’t want to overwhelm the eye, however, or give too many details on this kind of document. Your basic who, what, where, when, and why will do.
In the document you are about to create, the basic goal is to get the reader to sign up for a trip with the travel agency. The bulleted text and shading emphasize the special trips that the agency is advertising in this flyer. While this flyer is not a great piece of literature, it does illustrate several design considerations, while using only basic formatting choices. Of course, a professional design company would do something much more complex and more expensive to produce, and more beautiful, too!
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Design Tips for Documents
a. Number of fonts
Be careful not to use too many fonts. Normally two or three fonts for body text and headings are plenty, especially if they are quite different from each other. Headings can be larger, bolder versions of the body text fonts. An additional fancier font can be used also as part of a logo or letterhead without creating much of a problem. Too many fonts actually make the document harder to read. The eye and the brain are lazy about lots of changes!
b. Title fonts / Body fonts
Some fonts work well as titles but are disastrous as text. Don’t get too fancy when you have lots of words to read. For something with lots of text, like a report, you want a font like Times New Roman with thinner lines and serifs on the letters. Those extra marks at the top and bottom of letters (the serifs) actually draw the eye along, making it easier to read than the plainer letters. Rather amazing, but true.
c. Upper case
Don’t use all upper case letters for anything but a TITLE or SUBTITLE or an acronym (like NASA and UN). Text in all caps is very much harder to read. It feels like shouting when used in body text.
d. Paper color / Ink color
The color of the paper makes a major difference in the look of a document, even when all the ink is black. When colored inks are used also, there can be an even larger difference in the overall effect. When you complete this project, you might try printing on different colors of paper to see for yourself.
e. Graphics
The right graphics can add a lot to your document. Too many graphics in too many different styles can clutter up the page and distract the reader. Be sure each graphic is adding something and not just getting in the reader’s way.
f. White space
The blank areas of your document have an important function. They are not wasted space. They function to set important information off from the details. Don’t crowd everything together. Let your spaces help the reader see what you are trying to say.
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Now you can actually get to work!
Before you format your document…
Decide on what you want your flyer to specifically advertise. Remember, the basic goal is to get the reader to sign up for a trip with the travel agency. You need a “catchy” title. Be sure to describe who, what, when where and why. Type the desired information in a new Word document. It is easier to format the document after you have all the desired text.
How to Format your document
A: Font Dialog
1. Select line 1 (your title)
2. From the menu, choose Format | Font. The Font dialog box will appear. When you want to make several changes, this dialog is more efficient than using the toolbar.
Your computer may have different fonts to choose from than the illustration shows. Some basic fonts come with Windows. Many programs add their own fonts, especially word processors and graphics programs.
3. Click on a desired font in the Font list to change the font for the selected text.
4. Change the Size to 36 by scrolling in the Size control until you can click on the "36".
5. Change the Color by clicking the down arrow to open the list and scrolling until you find a desired color. { Remember it will print in black and white}
6. Click in the box beside Shadow in the list of Effects.
7. Click on OK to apply your changes.
A wavy green underline appears underneath the title in some versions of Word. This means that Word thinks there may be a grammar error.
8. If you have the wavy green underline, right click on the title. The menu shows that Word thinks this is a sentence fragment. If youclick on Ignore Sentence. Word will forget about, but only for this editing session. You don't need to bother this time.
9. Center your text by clicking on the Center button on the toolbar.
To format Subtitle (Or other words you want to stand out)
10. Highlight the desired text. Right click on the highlighted text and choose Font from the popup menu.
11. In the Font dialog box change: example Font = Arial, Style = Bold Italic,
Size = 24, Underline = Single, Color = Green.
12. Center the line using the Center button.
1. Click on the Font Color button arrow to open the palette.
Click on the desired square to change the text color.
The toolbar button now shows the Dark Red color under the A. Clicking the button will color the selected text Dark Red. You don't have to open the color palette if you want to use the color on the button. This method is easier than using the Font dialog if you want to make just this one change.
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B. Bullets
In a bulleted list each item in the list is preceded by a dot, square, or other shape or image, which is called a bullet.
1. Select the lines (usually a list) which you can to bullet.
2. Click the Bullet button on the toolbar to turn these lines into a bulleted list.
Are your bullets small solid circles? This button applies the bullet formatting that was used last.
If you want bullets that aren’t circles:
While the lines are still selected --
a. Right click on the selection and choose Bullets and Numbering from the popup menu.
b. If one of the options shown uses small solid circles, click on it and then on OK. Success!
If you do not see a choice with circles you must format the bullets the hard way --
c. Click on the Modify or Customize button. A dialog opens which allows you to choose the bullet symbol.
d. Click on the Bullets button in the middle. If the Symbol font is not showing, from the Fonts list, choose the font Symbol. Then click on the small solid circle on 6th row 12th column from the left.
Click on the Character button to see the choices in the current font. (If the font is not Symbols, choose Cancel and click the Font button and select Symbols, then click Character again.) The dot character is in row 10, column 8.
e. Click on OK until you are back in your document. Whew!
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C. Shading
Shading is a colored or patterned background. Pictures and text are on top of the color or pattern. Remember that a black and white printer will turn your colors to shades of gray. The Shading portion of the Tables and Borders toolbar doesn’t offer all of the choices that are on the Shading tab of the Borders and Shading dialog box from the Format menu.
1. Select the lines listing the trips by dragging down the margin.
2. From the menu select Format | Borders and Shading… | Shading
3. Select 20% gray. The box to the right of the palette shows the name of the selected color. In the Apply to: box select Paragraph.
4. Choose OK. The text area surrounding the selected paragraphs is now a light gray.
When you choose a dark color for shading, you should change the text color to a pale color for contrast.
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D. Borders
A border is a line around something. The versions of Word since Word97 can put a line around just about anything! The Tables and Borders toolbar doesn’t have all of the choices that the dialog box shows.
1. While the lines about trips are still selected, from the menu select Format | Borders and Shading… | Borders
2. Click on the setting Box.
3. Select the solid line Style.
4. Select line Width of 2¼ pt.
5. Select Apply to: Paragraph.
You can click on the picture in the right of the dialog to select which edges you want to show a border. Under Options you can change how far from the border the text is. The default is 1 pt. top and bottom and 4 pt. left and right.
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E. Images
A text-only document is a bland and boring thing. You can use images to make your document look better and even to explain things to your readers more clearly.
Most word processors can accept images of a number of different file formats. There are two categories of file formats for images: bitmap and vector. Common extensions for image files include: gif, jpg, png, wmf, bmp, pcx, tif, cdr. Some of these formats come in several different versions themselves.
When you use an existing image, you import it into your document. Except for basic bitmap images, you must have the right import filter installed for Word to be able to import the image. When you install Word, you can select all or just some of the available filters. Later, if you need other filters, you can reinstall Word from the CD andpickthe filters that you omitted.
CLIP ART
The term clip art is used for drawings that are made for inserting into documents. Some clip art collections include photos.
Click on line where you want to insert an image. This puts the cursor in that line. You will put an image on this line.
From the menu select Insert | Picture | Clip art .
The Task Pane opens at the right with the Clip Art search pane showing Search for: type a word that describes your desired image.
To help you find the right image quickly, Microsoft Clip Gallery and Clip Organizer group images in categories/collections. Click Go. When you find a image you like click on it and it will appear in your document.
Resize an Image
Your image is usually not quite the size you want. One of the great features of modern word processors is the ability to change the size of images in your documents. If you enlarge any image beyond the size it was originally created, it may look jagged. Vector format images change size more smoothly than bitmaps.
Select the image in the document by clicking on it. Handles appear at the corners and in the middle of each side. Move your pointer to the bottom right corner handle until it changes to the Diagonal Resize shape.
Dragging with a corner handle changes the width and height at the same time without changing the proportions of the image.
If you want to move the image, you should double-click the image, click Layout/ Tight or Behind text. With a four headed arrow you can move the image to a desired location.
If you need to select the image again, just click on it once. If you accidentally double-click an image, you are asking Word to edit it. Your image will be put in a new document by itself to edit. Don’t panic if this happens accidentally. Just close the new document and you’ll be tossed back to where you were.
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Read over the design tips to make sure you have taken them into consideration. When you flyer is complete save, print and submit to me.