Web hosting directory - CHAPTER 23 In Depth: Writer
CHAPTER 23 In Depth: Writer The word processor is arguably the most popular element within any office suite. That said, you ll be happy to know that OpenOffice.org s Writer component doesn t skimp on features. It offers full text-editing and formatting functionality, along with powerful higher-level features such as mail merge. In this chapter, we ll take a look at some of Writer s most useful features. As with all of the components in the OpenOffice.org suite, describing the features within Writer could easily fill an entire book. You should do some exploring on your own by clicking around to discover new features, as well as make judicious use of the help system. Formatting Text You can format text within Writer using several methods. Here, we ll look at using the Formatting toolbar, the context menu, and the Style and Formatting palette. The Formatting Toolbar Formatting text is easy to do via the Formatting toolbar, which is just above the ruler and main document area. Using the toolbar buttons, you can select the type of font you wish to use, its point size, and its style (normal, bold, italics, and so on). The range of fonts is previewed in the Font drop-down list, making it easy to select the right typeface. In addition, the Formatting toolbar lets you justify text so that it s aligned to the left or right margin, centered, or fully justified. You can also indent text using the relevant icons. As with elsewhere in Ubuntu, a tooltip will appear over each icon when you hover the mouse cursor over it, as shown in Figure 23-1. To the right of the indentation buttons are tools to change the text background and foreground colors, and also a tool to create highlighter pen-style effects. Figure 23-1. When you hover your mouse over an icon, a tooltip appears to explain what it does.