The Wordprocessor
The wordprocessor facilities are very limited but adequate.
By default the text is "Normal". In the white window you can find a "Sub-heading" setting. If you have a paragraph heading line like this:
Sub-heading, a test of formatting this line
then just click on any character in it and apply the sub-heading setting. The line then becomes:
Sub-heading, a test of formatting this line
Its all shown in capitals in the wordprocessor, so you might think this has ignored what you may have typed. So click on Preview to see what the text will really look like if published.
If you highlight any text then you can also use bold, italic and underline. You can also:
and
- number
- the text
Set out the lines to be bulleted or numbered one under the other, then highlight them and finally apply the effect. The text will be automatically indented and bulleted or numbered.
Then you have the usual copy/cut/paste options. This only works properly using Internet Explorer. If you use Google Chrome you can use keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V for copy/cut/paste. Firefox may not allow you to do any of these operations unless you change its security settings.
Finally there is the ability to add a link to an external site such as the BBC or to another page on this site, such as Home. To do this type a name for the link (BBC, for example). Then highlight the word BBC. Next click on the Create link button (a picture of the world with a chain over it). A box opens up. Paste or type the URL address into the URL field, in our example case this is http://www.bbc.co.uk or just www.bbc.co.uk will do. Then type a title name which is optional and appears when hovering over the link. Finally click on OK.
If you are more experienced or you just wish to find out more about how web pages are put together then have a look at our article on HTML. Use the HTML page as a springboard to a whole raft of useful information about HTML available on the internet and in bookshops.
A final note of warning: You are strongly recommended to write your entire article before applying any formatting. Then you should go through your text applying whatever formatting effects you wish. Beware that the wordprocessor can be unforgiving if you change your mind and try to undo things. If this happens the mess that results can be undone by editing the underlying HTML code - so please contact the webmasters if you have invested a lot of time in your article and they will try to sort things out for you.
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