 |
Section One - Background
Lesson 1-1: Text Formatting
In this lesson we will take a look at how text is formatted on a computer.
It is easy to change the formatting of text when you use word processing software. For example,
text format
can be changed to bold, italic, underlined,
red, strikeout, or even all at the same
time.
This line is aligned to the right.
This line is centered.
This line uses a different font.
Text can be made bigger or smaller.
You have probably already noticed,
that all of the formatting changes can be made word-by-word, line-by-line, or even
character-by-character.
For example, only the last word in this sentence is underlined.
How does the computer know that underlining starts with the first letter (u) in the word "underlined",
and stops at the last letter (d)? When you underline any text
using word processing software, the computer puts a hidden code where the underlining begins, telling
the computer to "start underlining here." The computer also needs to know where to stop underlining,
so it puts another hidden code where you want the underlining to end. That second code tells the computer to
"stop underlining here." Without the end code the computer would just keep underlining all the way to the
end of the document.
Take a look at the following illustration (Fig.1).
What you see is some sample text formatted using word processing software, in this case, WordPerfectTM:
Fig. 1:
The next illustration (Fig.2) shows the text in the upper half of the window as you would normally see it on screen,
and the same text with the hidden codes shown in the lower half of the window. Notice the "start codes"
and "end codes" where each kind of formatting begins and ends. Take a little time right now to
carefully compare the upper and lower parts of the window. Look at the formatting features like bold,
italic, underline, etc. in the upper window, then look in the lower window to see how the computer
places the hidden codes.
Fig. 2:
You don't need to remember any of the hidden codes when using your word processor, because the
computer puts in all the codes for you automatically. Web pages are formatted using tags, similar to the
hidden codes used by word processors. Once you grasp the idea of
start codes
and end codes, you can understand how HTML tags are used to build web pages.
ps. Remember,
that links in the text of a lesson are usually popup help and hints. Don't be afraid to click the links. If you haven't already, go ahead and click the above link.
Review:
In a word processing program, text is formatted by putting
start codes and end codes
where the formatting begins and ends. Home pages are also built using similar start
and end codes called tags.
|
