of text. See the later section, “Pressing the Enter key.”
Spacebar: The only key with no symbol, it inserts a space between words and sentences. Yes, just one space. See the later section, “Whacking the spacebar.”
Tab: This key inserts the tab character, which shoves the next text you type over to the next tab stop. Using this key properly is an art form. Chapter 12 is dedicated to its use.
Backspace and Delete: Use these keys to back up and erase text. Yes, erasing text isn’t a job always left to the editor. Read more about these keys in Chapter 4.
Every character key you press on the keyboard produces a character on the screen, on the blank part where you write. Typing those character keys over and over is how you write text on a word processor.
✔ A laptop keyboard’s layout is different from the desktop keyboard layout shown in Figure 2-1. Primarily, laptop keyboards lack a numeric keypad. The cursor keys are clustered tight around the typewriter keys in unusual and creative patterns. The function keys might be accessed by pressing special key combinations.
✔ Keys on the numeric keypad can be number keys or cursor keys. The split personality is evident on each key cap, which displays two symbols. When the Num Lock key’s lamp is on, the keys generate numbers. When the lamp is off, the keys serve as duplicate cursor keys.
✔ Cursor keys control the cursor, which is officially known as the insertion pointer in Microsoft Word. The cursor keys include the four arrow keys (up, down, left, right), and also the keys Home, End, PgUp (or Page Up), PgDn (or Page Down), Insert, and Delete.
✔ Ctrl is pronounced “control.” It’s the control key.
✔ The Delete key may also be labeled Del on the keyboard.
✔ The modifier keys, Shift, Ctrl, and Alt, work in combination with other keys.
Though word processing is a keyboard thing, you will eventually lift your hand from the keyboard to fondle the computer mouse. The mouse is used to choose commands, move around the document, and select text. Specific information on these tasks is found throughout this book. For now, it helps to understand how the mouse pointer changes its look as you work in Word:
The mouse pointer may change its appearance when click-and-type mode is active: Teensy lines appear to the left, right, and below the I-beam mouse pointer. Refer to Chapter 32 for information on click-and-type.
Keyboard Dos and Don’ts
You don’t need to know how to type to use a word processor. And if you don’t know how to type, see the nearby sidebar, “Do I need to learn to type?,” although I can tell you that the answer is “Yes.” It also helps to know a few typing dos and don’ts that are particular to word processing.
No one needs to learn to type to use a word processor, but you do yourself a favor when you learn. My advice is to get a computer program that teaches you to type. I can recommend the Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing program, even though I don’t get any money from her and none of her children resemble me. I just like the name Mavis, I suppose.
Knowing how to type makes the word-processing chore a wee bit more enjoyable.
Text you compose in Word appears at the insertion pointer’s location. The insertion pointer looks like a flashing vertical bar:
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Characters appear before the insertion pointer, one at a time. After a character appears, the insertion pointer hops to the right, making room for more text.
✔ The insertion pointer moves as you type, but its location can be set to any location in the document. Chapter 3 covers moving the insertion pointer around in more detail.
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Pressing the spacebar inserts a space character into the text. Spaces are important between words and sentences. Withoutthemreadingwouldbedifficult.
✔ I'm serious! Back in the dark ages, typing instructors directed students to use two spaces between sentences. That extra space was necessary for readability because typewriters used monospaced characters. On a computer, however, the extra space does nothing and potentially leads to formatting woes down the road.
✔ Anytime you feel like using two or more spaces in a document, what you need is a tab. Tabs are best for indenting text as well as for lining up text in columns. See Chapter 12 for details.
When you make a typo or another type of typing error, press the Backspace key on the keyboard. The Backspace key moves the insertion pointer back one character and erases that character. The Delete key also erases text, though it gobbles up characters to the right of the insertion pointer.
See Chapter 4 for more information on deleting text.
In word processing, you press the Enter key only when you reach the end of a paragraph. Do not press the Enter key at the end of a line.
When your text gets precariously close to the right margin, Word automatically wraps the last word on the line down to the next line. This word wrap feature eliminates the need to press Enter at the end of a line.
✔ Don’t use the Enter key to double-space your text. Double-spacing is a paragraph format in Word. See Chapter 11 for more information.
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