Formatting woes in Word
Ever wonder why Word won’t place words on the page as you want it to, or why Word is printing a blank page that you didn’t ask for?
Word has a handy tool that will show you the secret formatting that is probably what is creating problems for you. Click on the Show/Hide icon, right in the middle of the ribbon in the Home tab. It looks like a paragraph mark: ¶
Click on it now. Suddenly, you can see dots for spaces ∙∙∙ and ¶ for paragraphs. If you’ve tabbed in a few extra times, like this → → → that will show, also.
These symbols won’t print, when you print your document, and if they annoy you, simply click the icon again to make the formatting invisible again. But when you aren’t getting the results you expect, clicking the Show/Hide icon can often help you see where you went wrong.
Office | Comment (0)The cursed cursor
You have been typing along, and have come to the end of your paragraph, and Word has – wrongly – decided you want to keep your indent at the same level. But of course that’s never true, is it? You want it back at the left margin. And you certainly didn’t want your paragraph to be completely indented. (And the way out of that has been sooooo annoying.) But finally, there is hope.
When you have been placed at the annoying new line, simply backspace.
- One backspace will leave you at the same indent as the start of the text for the previous line.
- Two backspaces will leave you at the indent directly under the number/ letter/bullet point.
- Three backspaces will take you back to the left margin.
Like this.
If you already started typing (or you’re looking at a document that already has this problem in it), all is not lost. Click your cursor at the very start of the text you want to change, and then backspace one, two or three times (depending upon where you wanted to be). I’ve noticed that the tab never goes in as far as previously, so you may need to tab again to match up your paragraphs.
Do you ever outline in Word? Word calls that a “multilevel list.” To “show” Word that you’re done with your outline, press Enter once to get to a new line, then press it once again, to convince it that you’re at the end of your list. If you have gotten yourself a couple of levels deep into your outline, you’ll have to press Enter a few more times to get the cursor back to the left margin.
Remember, if you’ve tabbed too far, you can hold down the Shift key while you press Tab and this will move you back one tab.
For a tutorial on this whole topic, see http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC102161651033 This takes about 30 minutes, and will take you through some of the finer points.
Special thanks to Rich Pilny for asking me about this so that I investigated it further, instead of continuing to speak colorfully to my computer when it indented in ways I did not intend.
Office | Comment (0)Using the right click in Word
Ever wonder why there are two (2) buttons on the mouse? This is so that you can do things you often want to do with text, but without having to find the right place on the ribbon and tabs. Each Office program offers different functions when you right-click, but these can save you a lot of time and trouble. In Word, when you right-click, you are given many options:
You can change formatting:
You’ll notice that there are options to change font and font size, change text to Bold or Italic, change text color, change text indent, bullet point (and you can even change the bullet).
You can even change the type Style (Title, Heading1, etc.) by clicking on either of Styles (down at the bottom) or the A with a pen next to it at the top.
Generally you need to click on the text you want to change, then right click. Sometimes, you’ll need to highlight the text you want to change.
You’ll also notice that there are drop-down arrows, which provide additional choices. 6For example, if you click on the Type Style’s drop down arrow, you’ll be given a menu of the type styles, right there.
If you’ve highlighted text, you can cut, copy or paste it, insert a hyperlink, change the formatting to bullets or numbering.
If you’ve clicked on a word, you can find synonyms, or even translate it into another language.
You can even look up information about a topic on-line, by right clicking on a word, and then selecting Look Up…
Don’t get disappointed if it doesn’t work the first time. It can take a little practice to click or highlight correctly, so Word knows what you want to do.
Office | Comment (0)Going beyond Google
Although Googling is a perfectly adequate way of search for information on the Internet, it’s not the only option. And there may be a better search engine for you.
Google and Yahoo both are out to make a buck, so not surprisingly, they put their advertisers on top of any search list. They also use other algorithms that influence placement on the list. Wouldn’t you like to do searches without this bias?
Try using a metasearch engine. These search other search engines. For example, try out www.dogpile.com or www.cactisearch.com . These are just as fast as Google, but provide a filter that can bring up more valuable websites. This excerpt from a dogpile search shows which search engines identified this link. Both Google and Yahoo put Wikipedia’s link higher for this same search. (Wikipedia allows the public to change materials posted there, so its contents can be questionable.)
Also, if you like your information displayed more visually than just a list, try www.clusty.com which displays your search results in groups.
Or www.mooter.com which displays your search results as a web or cluster.
Finally, if you’d really prefer to use plain old English, rather than using keywords, try out www.brainboost.com (the same as www.answers.com/bb ). You may have to rephrase your question a few times before you get your answer, or it may not work at all, but it may be worth a shot.
Happy browsing!
Internet tools | Comment (0)Evaluating Internet Information
Have you wanted to use internet resources, but weren’t sure if these were right for you, or for your students? Have you wondered how to tell if websites are useful? How to pick through the results of a Google search to find the gold? Though there’s no substitute for just plain sitting down at the computer and practicing searching – experience is the best teacher – here are some ideas to help.
Who published the website?
Look at the domain name (web address). http://www.blah.blah.blah.com Look at the very end (called the “extension”); this will tell you much about the owner of the website:
.com – company or commercial (can be other organizations, as well, like www.saint-bernard.com …)
.net – same as .com
.edu – college or university
.gov – government
.K12 – public school district
.org – organization, often non-profit or trade organization.
If the address doesn’t tell you much, try finding out about the publisher of the website. Often this is in “About Us,” or “Contact,” or down at the bottom of the main page (though this may include the company that was paid to create the webpage). Some organizations are sneaky: www.ANWR.org sounds like it would be for keeping the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge as a wildlife refuge; in fact, it’s run by commercial oil interests who want to drill in the park. Similarly, the website www.martinlutherking.org is published by people who hate Dr. King and everything he stands for.
Another way to tell is to go to http://www.easywhois.com. If you enter the domain name (www.blahblahblah.com, for example), you will find out who actually published the website. If you use this to check out martinlutherking.org, you’ll find it’s published by Stormfront Inc; when you Google Stormfront Inc, you quickly find that it’s a white nationalist hate group.
How current is the website?
Look for a copyright date or “last updated” date. If it says 1999, you know the information isn’t current. For some subjects this won’t matter much, but for others it will matter a great deal.
How well-put-together is the website?
If it’s full of typos and links to nowhere, or generally looks messy, this may reflect a casual attitude toward the contents, too.
What’s the purpose for the website?
Is this for open dissemination of information, persuasion to a particular point of view, advertising? Answering this question will help you evaluate the contents.
Does the information appear accurate, based on your background knowledge?
If you see information you clearly know is inaccurate or wildly biased, it’s time to question the website’s veracity.
If you’d like help in finding good resources for use by you or your students, please let me know.
Internet tools | Comment (0)