Exploring the OpenOffice.org Writer Window

A new text document window is displayed each time Writer is invoked.

The Writer window has the following basic components:

Title Bar – displays the name or description of the document being edited. Control menu icons, such as the Minimize button, the Maximize / Restore button and Close button as shown in Diagram 1.

In the open office window writer window, the title bar is usually displays the name of the document being edited. If the document has not been named or saved yet, the title bar reads as "Untitled."

The title bar also has another important function. By clicking and dragging the title bar, you can move a writer window to any location on the VDU screen. It is the only place where you can click to move the writer window. Double-clicking the title bar will restore/maximize the writer window.

Diagram 1

Menu Bar – is positioned just below the Title bar. It contains Menu items like File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Table, Tools, Window and Help as shown in Diagram 2. Each of these menu bar items have drop down menus.

The File menu includes options such as Save and Open File..., the Edit menu has items such as Undo, Copy, Paste, and Select All, while in the View menu you'll find viewing options such as changing the layout of open writer windows. Word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word, also include menu options such as Insert, Format, Table, Tools and Window which you will most likely not find in a Web browser's menu bar. Many items located within the menu bar often have keyboard shortcuts that enable you to choose menu options by just pressing a key combination.

Diagram 2

Function Bar/Standard toolbar – It helps in performing routine tasks with ease. The function bar provides shortcuts to menu commands like opening or saving a document, printing a page, copy, paste, zooms and so on as shown in Diagram 3. It also allows the insertion of various objects, fields, and so on. There is a button for spell checking and auto spell checking. Place the cursor over each icon to see its function displayed in a tool tip.

Diagram 3

Object Bar/Formatting Toolbar – This bar contains all the formatting tools that are used for formatting text like changing the font type, increasing font size, making text bold, italic or underline, aligning text to left, right or center, and so on as shown in Diagram 4. Place the cursor over each icon to see its function displayed in a tool tip.

Diagram 4

Ruler Bar – Underneath the object bar there is a horizontal ruler, which allows setting the tabs, indents and margins for the current paragraph or any selected paragraph as shown in Diagram 5. There is also a vertical ruler in addition to horizontal ruler, which allows formatting the vertical alignment of text in a document.

Diagram 5

If in case the vertical ruler is not visible, to make it visible:
Select Tools -> Options
In the Options dialog box select OpenOffice.org Writer
Inside OpenOffice.org Writer select View
Click the Vertical Ruler check box in the View option as shown in Diagram 6.

Diagram 6

Status Bar – The Status bar displays information about the active document or the task on which the user is currently working. This includes page number, page style, zoom, hyperlink, and so on as shown in Diagram 7. The status bar is positioned at the bottom of the window.

From left to right, the fields are as follows:

Page number: Shows the current page number, the sequence number of the current page, and the total number of pages in the document. If any bookmarks have been defined in the document, a right-click on this field pops up a list of bookmarks; click on the required one. To jump to a specific page in the document, double-click in this field. The Navigator opens. Click in the Page Number field and type the required page number. After a brief delay, the display jumps to the selected page. Note: the “page number” is actually the sequence number of the page, which may be different from the page number displayed on the page itself.
Page style: Shows the style of the current page. To change the page style, right-click on this field. A list of page styles pops up; choose a different style by clicking on it.To edit the page style, double-click on this field.
Language: Shows the language for the selected text. Click to open a menu where you can choose another language for the selected text or for the paragraph where the cursor is located. You can also choose None to exclude the text from a spelling check or choose More… to open the Character dialog.
Insert mode: Click to toggle between Insert and Overwrite modes when typing.
Selection mode: Click to toggle between STD (Standard), EXT (Extend), ADD (Add) and BLK (Block) selection. EXT is an alternative to Shift+click when selecting text.
Digital signature: If the document has been digitally signed, an icon shows in this part of the Status bar. You can double-click the icon to view the certificate.
Section or object information: When the cursor is on a section or object (such as a picture), information about that item appears in this field. Double-clicking in this area opens a relevant dialog.
View layout: Click the appropriate icon to change between single page, side-by-side, and book layout views. You can edit the document in any view. New in OpenOffice.org 3.
Zoom: To change the view magnification, drag the Zoom slider or click on the + and – signs. Zoom interacts with the selected view layout to determine how many pages are visible in the document window. New in OpenOffice.org 3.

Diagram 7

Scroll Bar – There are two types of scroll bars vertical and horizontal as shown in Diagram 8. The vertical scroll bar is used to move the document vertically. It has four buttons. Those with single arrows are used to scroll up or down in a document one line at a time. Those with double arrows are used to scroll up or down in a document one page at a time. There is one more button named navigation between the two double arrow buttons, which allows selecting an object like drawing, OLE object, page, table and so on, based on which navigation across those objects in the document is possible. The horizontal scroll bar is used to scroll the document horizontally.

Diagram 8

Text Boundaries – The Document contains a shadowed frame known as Text Boundaries although visible online, they do not get printed as shown in Diagram 9. They are meant as a visual aid as one enters text and inserts objects into the document. Text can be written anywhere inside the text boundaries. Beyond the text boundaries is the area called Margins.

Diagram 9

Workspace – This is the place where the text of the document can be typed as shown in Diagram 10.

Diagram 10

Text Context Menu – This menu gives quick access to formatting and editing functions. This menu is context sensitive and changes according to the current cursor position. Right click anywhere within the workspace and the Text Context menu appears which will provide options to work with as shown in Diagram 11.

Diagram 11

These are the brief exploration of the open office writer window. Now you can create and save the document which is explained in detail in the next lesson - Creating and Saving a Writer Document.