Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 23 (1995-1996) March (No. 6)

Are You Still Typing?

By Irene Smith and Sharon Yoder

No, this article isn’t about voice input or handwriting recognition. It’s about word processing. Word processing, you say? Well, sure, you use your word processor and computer, and, of course, you rejoice because you no longer have to use a return before you can start the next line. But are you word processing? No, don’t try to answer the question—just keep reading.

Have you, like many teachers, including ourselves, moved into the computer age gradually, eventually replacing your trusty typewriter with a computer? Many of us in the teaching field have been drafted to teach keyboarding courses in schools simply because someone recognized we knew what a computer was. With little knowledge about how to actually teach typing and less knowledge about publishing and design, we taught these classes using the long-remembered typing experiences from the past.

As many of you know, the field of desktop publishing emerged in the late 1980s. The Apple laser printer and the Aldus PageMaker program (now Adobe PageMaker) combined to turn the computer into a publishing house on your desk. With these tools, professional-quality publishing on a computer became possible. Moving from just typing to desktop publishing meant that we needed a new body of knowledge because the process of desktop publishing includes many elements that go far beyond simple typing. But that body of knowledge already exists; in fact, it has been used by professional printers for hundreds of years. However, it is new to us, so let’s begin our exploration of the new world of word processing and desktop publishing.

The Desktop Publisher’s World

Have ever compared the documents you produce to professionally published documents? There are probably some significant differences. It might be helpful to establish a few rules that can help you create documents that look more professional.

Rule 1. Use proportional type for your text. First, notice that each letter on this printed page takes up a different amount of space. This kind of typethe type you are reading nowis called proportional type. Conventional typewriters produce monospaced type, in which each letter takes up the same amount of space. Figure 1 gives an example of each kind of type.

Rule 2. Put one space after ending punctuation. With a typewriter, you were probably taught to put two spaces after ending punctuation. However, most word processors automatically put extra space after punctuation. Therefore, when word processing you should use only one space after ending punctuation. This simple rule is difficult to learn if you have been using a typewriter for many years; but like many other difficult tasks, it is possible to unlearn it. (If we can manage at our advanced age, you can certainly make the change!) Of course, until you unlearn it, you can use your word processor’s Find and Replace feature to replace period-space-space with period-space.

Rule 3. Be smart, use smart quotes. With word processors, there is the tricky issue of apostrophes and quotation marks. When you enter these marks, the keys on the typewriter keyboard actually insert the marks for foot (’) and inch ("). As shown here, these marks are generally straight and vertical. True quotation marks, or typographer’s quotation marks, are “curly.” Most word processors have a setting that will automatically give you these curly quotes, sometimes called smart quotes. You can also use the keystrokes shown in Table 1 to create smart quotes.

Rule 4. Use en and em dashes rather than a double hyphen. Dashes—no, not the 100-yard kind—are another issue. With a typewriter, you were taught to use two hyphens: —. When using a word processor you should use en dashes and em dashes. An en dash is the width of the letter n in the type you are using. It is most frequently used to separate ranges in numbers, for example, 1–3. (Think of it as a replacement for the word “to.”) Em dashes are used where you would use two hyphens—an em dash is used to introduce a sentence break or in other instances when you want punctuation that is stronger than a comma but not as strong as a period.

Rule 5. Use italics instead of underlining. Nearly every word processor has a number of styles available from the menu. These styles include such choices as bold, italic, shadow, and underline. However, you should avoid using the underline style. Underlining often runs across the bottoms of letters, leaving the text unattractive and hard to read.

Notice how the descenders are cut off by the underlining and how the flow of the type is interrupted by the underlining.

Historically, underlining was a typewriter replacement for italics text because typewriters couldn’t produce italics. Word processors can produce italic type, so in spite of what outdated style manuals say and regardless of how easily you can place underlined text in your work, resist the temptation. Yes, you do see lines under text in professional work (see Figure 2), but those lines are created graphically and are called rules.

Rule 6. Unless otherwise instructed, use single-spacing for your documents. For years, you probably turned in double-spaced papers so that teachers could spill red ink between the lines. In general, you should use single-spacing if you are producing the final versions of your documents for general distribution. (Be aware, however, that some teachers still might want you to double-space your papers.)

Other Resources

The preceding six rules are just the beginning. There are many more details that can make your work look even more professional, but in an attempt to conserve our national forests we will refrain from trying to describe them all! Instead, take a look at the resources listed at the end of this article for more information on producing more professional-looking documents.

Irene’s Rule

When Irene teaches a course involving word processing, she tells her students to rejoice in the freedom of the word processor and computer tools. Leave the grunge work to the computer; do the creating and thinking yourself. Irene has developed a basic rule that communicates this idea: To maximize output, minimize keystrokes and minimize time. But just what does that mean? Here are a few tips that demonstrate the efficiency and time-saving power of the word processor.

Use the first-line indent marker to indent text. Another old typing rule you probably learned is to indent the first line of a paragraph 1/2". Because the typewriter’s standard-sized, monospaced type is seldom used in word processing, this rule no longer applies. Instead, indent the equivalent of two or three characters in the type you are using. When creating indents, apply Irene’s Rule to save keystrokes. Don’t indent using the space bar or the Tab key. Instead, use the first-line indent marker. In ClarisWorks , for example, the symbol for the tab marker is an upside-down T. The first line of any paragraph will always start where you place the first-line indent marker, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. First-line indent marker in ClarisWorks.

There are two ways to set the first-line indent. You can select the entire document after typing it and then adjust the first-line indent, or you can set the marker when you begin typing your document. If you set the marker before you begin, each time you press the Enter/Return key, the next paragraph will automatically be indented. Which of the two methods saves you more time and more keystrokes?

Set tab stops exactly where you want them. Why are there tabs in a word processor if first-line indents replace the most common use of tabs? One place tabs are useful is in aligning columns of information. The most common approach is to press the Tab key several times to adjust the spacing between columns. This technique is shown in Figure 4, where each press of the Tab key is represented by a right-arrow symbol.

Figure 4. Aligning text with multiple tabs in ClarisWorks.

However, this method of aligning with multiple tabs violates Irene’s rule. You should use your word processor to set single tab stops exactly where you want them. Figure 5 illustrates this technique. In the example shown here, you will save 17 keystrokes. Later, if you decide to change the tab spacing, you can simply select the text and move the tab markers.

Figure 5. Setting tab stops in ClarisWorks.

Use the first-line marker and left-margin marker to create hanging indents. Most people use the Enter/Return key and the Tab key to create hanging indents, but using the first-line indent marker and the left-margin marker saves even more keystrokes (remember Irene’s rule). To create a hanging indent, move the left margin marker in two to three characters in the typeface being used. Then drag the first-line indent marker to the left so that it aligns with the left margin of your page, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Creating a hanging indent in ClarisWorks.

Hanging indents can be useful in aligning numbered and bulleted lists. Be sure to include a tab after the number or the bullet. Figure 7 shows a hanging indent used with a numbered list.

Figure 7. Using hanging indents to align a numbered list in ClarisWorks.

If you are single-spacing your work, you may want to add extra space after titles or between paragraphs. Although you can do this by pressing the Enter or Return key twice (which will give you paragraphs on screen that look like the one shown in Figure 8), you can use your word processor’s ability to insert space automatically before and after paragraphs, thus employing Irene’s rule.

Figure 8. Line spaces between paragraphs created with the Enter or Return key.

If you use this technique, your paragraphs will appear on screen like the ones shown in Figure 9 (where the paragraphs are separated by extra space without the extra Enter/Return keystroke).

Figure 9. Line spaces created using the line-spacing feature in ClarisWorks.

Incidentally, the rule of thumb here is to add about a half-line between paragraphs. That is, if you are using 12-point type, put 6 points of extra space between paragraphs.

Looking Stylish

Nearly all powerful word processors include a feature that allows you to define a paragraph style, which is defined as a collection of information defining the formatting of a paragraph of text. For example, ClarisWorks 3.0 has a simple style feature, while ClarisWorks 4.0 has quite powerful style capabilities. Microsoft Word and WordPerfect include very sophisticated style capabilities. Styles are now being included in most graphics and desktop -publishing software. Figure 10 shows an example of a paragraph of text that has been formatted with a paragraph style. A single keystroke or menu choice can be used to apply all of the formatting described in the text.

Figure 10. Paragraph styles applied in ClarisWorks.

The advantage to using paragraph styles is that you can change them after the entire document is formatted. If you create a document using 12 -point type for the body text and want the body text in the final version to be in 10-point type, you can simply change the type size in the body text style definition and the type size in all paragraphs having that particular style will change. This feature saves an incredible number of keystrokes. Whether your document is 1 page long or 100 pages long, using paragraph styles will save you considerable time and energy.

The Question Again

Now you can answer the question posed at the beginning of the article: Are you word processing? You’ve had time to reflect on your keyboarding skills and the way you approach the task of producing a document. How do you rate yourself? Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed, or do you have a cramp in your arm from patting yourself on the back? Regardless of your answer, we encourage you to let go of your old typing habits. Stop using outdated typewriter rules. Be creative and productiveand let your word processor do the work.

Irene Smith, International Society for Technology in Education, 480 Charnelton, Eugene, OR 97401-2626; smithire@oregon.uoregon.edu
Sharon Yoder, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403; skyoder@oregon.uoregon.edu

Resources

The following two books will give you more information on producing more professional-looking documents: The Mac Is Not a Typewriter, by Robin Williams, and Lookin’ Good, by Sharon Yoder and Irene Smith. They are available from the International Society for Technology in Education, 480 Charnelton Street, Eugene, OR 97401-2626; phone 800.336.5191; fax 541.302.3778.

Copyright © 1996, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.