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You should pick your program based on how complicated your
document is. What kind of formatting do you need? Does the document include
graphics or tables? Will people using other platforms need to open or modify
it? How large is the document? Are you creating a Web page? Windows 2000 includes two word processing programs: Notepad and
WordPad. Each provides basic text editing capability, but you may have tasks
that are better suited for one editor over the other. Decide whether your document needs any of the following before you choose an
editor. Text formatting Notepad can do only the most basic text formatting. You can specify a font and insert tabs. The font applies to
the whole document, not an individual paragraph or word, and it is not saved
with the file. So, if someone else looks at the file on another computer, that
user will see whatever font is available. WordPad lets you create more complex documents, giving you most of the
capability of a word processor. You can change the font for the entire document
or just a word within it. With the click of a button, you can insert bullets
into text in WordPad or align a paragraph to the right or left. All of this
formatting is saved with your document, so no matter who opens it, it will
appear as you created it. Your word processor will provide even more text formatting options, such as
automatically numbering lines of text, specifying columns, or inserting frames. Tables If you plan to use tables in your file, you should probably create the
document using a word processor. You can set up a table in a Notepad or a
WordPad document, but you must count characters or insert tabs to align the
columns. Most word processors will separate the columns and rows and
automatically wrap text within columns for you. Graphics Notepad does not support graphics. You can insert graphics into a WordPad
document and modify them by linking or embedding them in your document. Almost
all word processors provide graphics support. Page setup Basic page setup is available with both Notepad and WordPad. You can set
margins, add headers and footers, and orient your documents to print either
vertically or horizontally. Your word processor may offer more options. Large documents The more elaborate the document, the longer it will take to open and modify.
Notepad and WordPad are both compact programs that start and open files
quickly, best used with smaller files. Word processors are intended for larger, more elaborate documents. A word
processor gives you more control over your documents than Notepad or WordPad
does. Often you can add footnotes, annotations, and even generate a table of
contents for your documents. Many word processors offer macros and templates to
help you automate repetitive tasks, such as typing your name or formatting
headings. Usually word processors will automatically check the spelling and
grammar in your document. Cross-platform support Notepad is a basic text editor that is most commonly used to view or edit
.txt files, such as the Readme.txt files provided with your Windows 2000
software. Text-only files are critical if you share documents with someone using
another platform like Macintosh or UNIX. WordPad also lets you save your files
as a Word document, so you can modify files created in Word even if you don't
have the program yourself. Multiple languages WordPad and Notepad let you save your files in different formats, such as
Unicode, providing you greater flexibility when working with documents that use
different character sets or documents created by other programs. Most word processors also allow you to save your files in a variety of
formats. Some provide support for multiple languages, even including several
dictionaries for spell checking. In WordPad, documents that use multiple
languages should be saved as rich text files (.rtf is the file extension of a
document saved as a rich text file). HTML and Web pages As more people use HTML to create Web pages or other documents, many find
Notepad a simple tool for writing in HTML. Because Notepad supports only very
basic formatting, you cannot accidentally save special formatting in documents
that need to remain pure text. This is especially useful when creating HTML
documents for a Web page because special characters or other formatting may not
appear in your published Web page or may even cause errors. Many word processors provide plug-ins or converters to help you create HTML
documents. But, if you are creating simple pages or if you want to make a few
quick changes, Notepad opens files quickly. Also, Notepad shows all of the HTML
tagging so you can troubleshoot your page. Not all word processors or
converters make the HTML code available. If you only need to create simple documents, Notepad is your best choice.
You would need to use
WordPad or another word processor for anything more complicated. Notes
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