In the late '60s, word processors were relatively simple text editors with a few features for typing letters and office documents. Since the early '90s, most word processors feature a WYSIWYG interface. WYSIWYG stands for 'What You See Is What You Get.' This means that the screen will look reasonably like the finished document. This feature is important because the real strength of word processors is in the formatting they allow. Formatting is the manipulation of characters, paragraphs, pages, and documents. Formatting was possible before WYSIWYG, but it required more imagination from the writer, because you couldn't see the effects of the formatting until you printed out the document.
Modern word processors also are designed to have numerous features for advanced users. Since a large portion of most people's computer time is spent with a word processing program, it is important that these programs have features to make editing documents easier. Some of the additional features that one can expect to find on a modern word processor are spelling and grammar checkers, ability to handle graphics, tables, and mathematical formulas, and outline editors. The word processing market is a very competitive one, and the major software companies are always competing to have the word processor with the most advanced features available.
Software companies are also interested in making their programs as easy to learn as possible. With this goal in mind, most word processors come with tutorial programs, extensive on-line help, and clear menus.
There are a number of internet sources that provide word processing software and utilities for various languages on one site. A few of these are:
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Look for language-handling features such as automatic hyphenation, spell checker, grammar checker and thesaurus. |
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Make sure the program has good file translation capabilities from and to other applications and other platforms. |
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Look for document management features, if you use them, including mail merge and automatic creation of footnotes, table of contents, indexes and charts. |
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Look for file management capabilities such as shortcuts for retrieving recent documents. |
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Look for basic desktop publishing features, if you use them, including type management, the ability to insert and manipulate graphics, photos, tables and charts, and the ability to lay out text in columns. |
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Compare how programs allow you to create macros for automatically executing functions or typing and formatting foreign words. |
Warning: Make sure your computer meets the system requirements
of any program you download or buy.
