1. Writing Documents

 Choose OfficeWord Processor from the main menu to launch OpenOffice.org Writer.

1.1. Word Processor Interface

Figure 3.1. OpenOffice.org Writer's Main Window

OpenOffice.org Writer's Main Window

Format Bar

This is the standard format bar for all OpenOffice.org applications. You can use it to change fonts, colors, alignment, etc. of the application's data.

Rulers

Define the horizontal location of the text and format elements. Rulers are very useful when you want to establish tabulation and paragraph indentation.

Work Area

This is where you enter the content of your document: words, numbers, images, tables, hyperlinks, etc.

Insertion Point

All characters typed on your keyboard are placed at the left of this point. Also called the cursor.

Page Style

Many elements define style: page size, margins, text-orientation, etc. Page style can be changed by choosing FormatPage from the menu. You may use the predefined styles, or define your own.

1.2. Styles

Word processor users often waste a lot of time formatting their documents: changing paragraph alignment, font family, weight and size, etc. Instead, they should concentrate on document structure and content writing.

 Styles provide a structure-centric approach to writing documents with a word processor, while normalizing document formatting and layout, and easily automating the generation and maintenance of tables of contents (TOC), indexes, references, etc. In OpenOffice.org Writer, styles are handled using the Stylist. Click on its icon in the Format Bar to open or close it.

Table 3.1. Suggested Text Styles

When you have a... Then apply the ... style
Chapter Title Heading 1
Section Title Heading 2
Sub-Section Title Heading 3
Sub-Subsection Title Heading 4
Paragraph Text Body, First Line Indent
List Item List Indent

Use the styles listed in Table 3.1, “Suggested Text Styles”, as a guide. Select the region of the document to apply the style to, and in the Stylist window, double-click on the style you want to apply to that region.

1.3. Lists

Use lists to enumerate the properties of an object (“unordered” or “bullet” list), or the steps to be performed to do a task (an “ordered” or “numbered” list).

 Click on this button to format the selected text into an unordered list. Select the list items and choose FormatBullets and Numbering from the menu to select the bullet type from a predefined set.

 Clicking on this button formats the selected text into an ordered list. The same rules as for unordered lists apply to the numbering format.

1.4. Page Headers and Footers

By default page headers and footers are common to all pages of a document. Use them to describe certain aspects of the document's content, for example: page number, total number of pages, chapter, section, document title, etc.

Choose Insert+HeaderDefault from the menu to add a page header to your document, and choose Insert+FooterDefault to add a page footer to your document. Just type the header or footer text or use one or more of the InsertFields menu items to compose your headers and footers.