INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET (WEEK 1 - WEEK 10)

How Distance Learning Has Changed My Life

This course has helped me overcome my fear of technology. I was unsure of myself at first, but I quickly became used to using e-mail, bulletin boards, and chat rooms.

I have learned how to do Internet research. I had never used the Internet for research before. I always went to the library and looked everything up in the card file. The search engines on the Internet are faster than looking things up manually. The search engines even let the researcher search for articles containing key words that are related to the subject being researched. Just a few years ago, a person would have had to scan an article or book themselves to see if it related to their topic. I have noticed that not all search engines are created equal. Yahoo and gmail are my favorites. To get a broad range of information on a topic, it is best to use more than one search engine.

From taking this class, I have learned that my preferred learning style is visual. I learn best from reading the material and seeing charts and graphics. If I am unsure on the spelling of a word, I write it down several different ways and choose the one that looks right. I am happy this is my learning style, because on-line classes are almost exclusively visual.

From the temperament sorter, I learned I was a guardian sj. I have always been goal-oriented and have usually known what I want out of life. I also want to fit in with a group. I feel that I have accomplished this with this class. We all want to improve our lives, and hopefully our paychecks. Guardians, besides wanting to fit in, are always searching for security. I am a bit insecure, but am trying to become more self-confident.

Another aspect of my temperament is that I am an "ISFJ." That means I am introverted, sensing, feeling, and judging. The article stated that ISFJ's are "characterized above all by their desire to serve others, their need to be needed." That is exactly like me. I never thought of myself as that way, but I am. I also seem to be taken advantage of a lot. I think that is because I want people to like me so much that I will give in in order to feel like I am accepted and wanted. People can easily take advantage of someone like me. This knowledge of myself will help me in the future. I will think twice before giving too much of myself. I will question the other person's motivation.

This course has helped me to know myself better. It has taught me skills I will take with me to my future courses. I will know how to collect research, contact people through e-mail, and will be able to order books on-line. I have already used my research skills. I went to Yahoo and searched for tutorials. There were several tutorials that were very helpful in my studies. In future courses, if I have questions, the Web has a vast amount of resources I can tap into.

My strengths in the distance learning format is my ability to set goals and be disciplined enough to reach those goals by the deadline. I kept a small notebook and wrote down each day what I needed to do in each class. I also tried to break down longer tasks into smaller pieces. I tried to do something every day to reach the goal. This class forced me to become organized. Being able to organize will help me in everything I do in university and at work.

One of my weaknesses is my shyness. I have partially overcome this weakness because of the on-line format. I did not feel as self-conscious, because nobody would see me, and would not judge me because of my looks. I could be myself. This has helped me become more confident. I have found it easier to speak up in my traditional classes and to speak with my classmates. I will be able to use this newfound confidence to do better in university and in finding a better job.

Another weakness I have is being afraid to ask for help. As this course progressed, however, I overcame that timidness. I realized that in the working world, everyone helps each other out if a co-worker has a problem (bread factory) :-). Also, working in teams is important in many jobs. The team project helped me to learn how to be a part of a team.

I have enjoyed this class because it opened my eyes to who I really am as a person. I have learned about my preferred learning style, which is visual. I have become more confident and goal-oriented. My organizational skills have improved greatly. I am looking forward to the rest of my university experience, and to the working world beyond. ^_^

Computer hardware: the basics

Computer hardware is the most easily identifiable part of your IT infrastructure and is one of your most important business assets. While software is needed to make any hardware useful, without the correct hardware your software may not run efficiently or even at all. Therefore, as with any business investment, you should choose your computer hardware with care.This guide takes you through every aspect of hardware acquisition, from assessing your needs to getting the best deal and finding specialist help. It covers a range of hardware, including stand-alone PCs, servers, network equipment, scanners and printers. It also provides information about the security measures you should take to protect your investment from risks such as theft.

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Processor

• Processor is the brain of your computer.

• Some key concepts

– Clock : In a computer, clock speed refers to the number of pulses

    per second that sets the tempo for the processor.

– Cache

_ A small but fast memory area.

_ Levels of cache exists.

– Bus (FSB and BSB) : Collection of wires connecting different

   devices.

– Pipeline : Implementation technique where multiple instructions

   are ovelapped.

Processor contd...

• 32/64 bit processors

– The amount of data a processor can process in a clock cycle.

• Clock speed and overclocking

– BUS SPEED x MULTIPLIER = CPU SPEED (Clock)

• Which processor is faster?

– 100MHz x 10.0 = 1000 MHz

– 133MHz x 7.5 = 997.5 MHz

Some commercially available

processors

   • Pentium I-IV

   • Celeron

   • Athlon

   • Duron

   • Cyrix C3

   • Itanium (64 bit)

   • Opteron (64 bit)

Processor contd...

• How do you pick a processor for your system?

– Performance & Cost

• How to measure performance?

– Clock speed is one measure of computer “power”, but it is not

always directly proportional to the performance level.

– The type of microprocessor, the bus architecture, and the nature

of the instruction set, all make a difference.

_ examples : P4 3.06 GHz, P4 3.0B GHz, P4 3.0C GHz

– Check for bus speed and cache size as well.

RAM

• What is RAM?

– Random Access Memory.

– RAM is volatile.

• Broadly classified as

– Static RAM.

– Dynamic RAM.

RAM contd...

• Static RAM

– Fast, has lower access time.

– Typical access times 5-25 ns.

– Expensive.

– Cache memory is Static RAM.

• Dynamic RAM

– Slower, has higher access time than Static RAM.

– Typical access times 60-120 ns.

– Much cheaper than SRAM.

– Main Memory is Dynamic RAM.

  RAM contd...

• Memory Bandwidth is proportional to System Bus speed.

• Dynamic RAM are further classified as

– EDORAM (Extended DataOut DRAM).

– SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) : PC100, PC133.

– DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM)- Allows activation of the output  operation to occur on both rising and falling clock edge and hence doubles the speed of operation.

– RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) - Developed by Rambus and Intel, can support  very high bus speeds.

RAM contd...

• Memory Slots/Sockets on Motherboard

– SIMM (Single In-Line Memory Module)

_ Smaller in length and capacity than DIMM.

– DIMM (Dual In-Line Memory Module)

_ Larger in length and capacity than SIMM.

– SIMM and DIMM are just packaging types only and do not affect

   the performance.

Motherboard

  • The main circuit board which connects all the device on a microcomputer;

     Also called main board or system board.

Motherboard contd...

• Chipset

– The chipset controls the system and its capabilities. It is the hub

   of all data transfer.

– Chipsets are integrated, and are not upgradable without buying

   a whole new motherboard.

– Some of the items it dictates

_ Memory controller

_ Real-time clock

_ Keyboard and mouse controller

_ Secondary cache controller

_ PCI bridge

_ EIDE controller

Motherboard contd...

• Motherboards are designed for specific Processors. A single motherboard

   cannot be used with different types of Processors.

• The different system bus speeds supported by the Motherboard should be of   prime consideration.

Some pictures of Pentium 111 processor>>>>>

Motherboard contd...

• Form Factors

– The form factor is the physical size and dimensions of the motherboard.

   The form factor determines the general layout, size, and feature placement on a motherboard.

_ Baby AT

_ ATX

_ Proprietary

Motherboard contd...

• Onboard devices - Video/Audio/LAN

– Lower cost.

– Lesser Flexibility.

• Upgradability

– Bus speeds supported.

– Number of expansion slots.

– Number and Types of IO ports available.

Hard Disk

• What is HardDisk?

   – Stores data in magnetic disk like medium

• Non-volatile mass storage device.

• Has very high access time as compared to RAM (10-20 million ns).

• Very cheap as compared to RAM and so large in capacity.

Hard Disk contd...

• Interface standards

    - IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)

   -The hard disk drive includes the drive controller circuitry and

hence known as IDE.

 _ It can support atmost 4 devices.

 _ 16 bit interface standard; 40 pin/80 pin connector.

 _ ATA-33/66

Hard Disk contd...

• Interface standards contd...

   – SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)

  _ General pupose interface standard used for connecting many types of devices to the PC.

_ Supports 7 to 15 different devices like hard disk, scanner, CD

   ROM etc.

_ 32 bit interface standard and more expensive than IDE.

_ Allows simultanous access for faster data transfer.

Hard Disk contd...

• Connecting Multiple IDE Harddisks/CD-Roms

   – Primary/Secondary and Master/Slave settings

   – Jumper settings

• Performance parameters

   – Rotation speed.

   – Average seek time.

Video Card

• What’s a Graphics Card?

    – A modern graphics card is a circuit board with memory and a dedicated    processor.

    – Converts digital information into the pixels to display it on the

       monitor.

• Frame Buffers

    – The card simply holds a frame of information that is sent to the screen.

    – Pixel updates are done by the microprocessor.

    – Slow.

Video Card contd...

• Graphics accelerators with GPU

   – Pixel updates are done by the GPU.

   – GPU is optimised for graphics operations.

   – Reduces load on the main processor.

Bus Interfaces PCI

• Peripheral Components Interconnect

   <<<choose one bus interface>.

Bus Interfaces AGP

   • Accelerated Graphics Port

On board Graphics Accelerator

   • On board graphics accelerators share system memory.

Video Card contd...

• Wide range of cards

   – 3D Accelration.

   – Video Memory.

• Modern day Graphics cards are more powerful than Pentium processor!

• Expensive component of your

   Computer.

Video Card contd...

• Choosing a Graphic card

   – PCI or AGP.

   – Integrated or Add-on card.

   – Non-Accelrated or 3D accelrated.

   – Cost.

Sound Card

  • Converts digital data (bits) into analog sound wave and vice-versa.

  • Has Digital Signal Processor, RAM, ADC and DAC.

  • Has jacks for speaker, microphone, line in, line out and joysticks.

Sound Card contd...

• Choosing a soundcard

   – Integrated or External add-on card.

   – CPU Utilization.

   – Sound reproduction capabilities (dolby, 5.1 channels etc.).

   – Cost.

Network Interface Card

  • Connects PC to LAN (Local Area Network).

  • Ethernet, Token Ring.

  • Speeds

      – 10Mbps

      – 100Mbps

  • Onboard or Add-on Card?

Ports

  • Serial

     – Serial port “serializes” data.

     – Mouse, Modems etc use Serial port.

  • Parallel

    – Bits transmitted in parallel.

    – Used primaraly for Printers.

  • PS/2

    – Used to interface keyboards and pointing devices.

    – Frees the serial port for other devices.

Ports contd...

• USB

   – Data transfer rate 12Mbps/480Mbps.

   – Multiple devices supported on the bus (127).

   – Hot pluggable, Plug-and-play.

   – Provide power through the cable.

   – Host based.

Ports contd...

   • Firewire (IEEE 1394)

      – Originally created by Apple and standardized in 1995.

      – Fast transfer of data (up to 400 Mbps/800Mbps).

      – Multiple devices supported on the bus (63).

      – Hot pluggable, Plug-and-play.

      – Provide power through the cable.

      – Peer to peer.

      – Supports synchronous devices.

BIOS

   • What is it? - Basic Input Output System

   • Why is it necessary?

       – boot up

   • Important Functions

       – Check CMOS Set-up.

       – POST - Power On Self Test.

       – Display system setting.

       – Initiate bootstrap sequence.

Configuring BIOS

    • System Time/Date.

    • Boot Sequence.

    • Plug and Play.

    • Drive Configuration.

    • Security.

    • Power Management.

Keyboard

   • Switching action.

   • No. of keys.

   • Control, Functional, Special, Alpha-Numeric Keys.

   • Connects to PC using PS/2 connector.

Mouse

• Different shapes and size.

• 2 and 3 buttons mouse.

• Scroll mouse.

• Connects to PC using PS/2 connector.

Monitor

• Cathode Ray Tube Monitor.

• Size - 15” to 21”.

• Resolution.

– CGA : 320 X 200 (4)

– EGA : 640 X 350 (16)

– VGA : 640 X 480 (256)

– SVGA : 1280 X 1024 (16.7 million)

• Display Quality - Refresh rate.

• Interlaced/Non-interlaced.

• Flat panel - LCD and Plasma.

CD ROM/Writable

• Speed - 12x, 24x, 48x, 52x etc.

• Sturdier, Unaffected by magnetic fields.

Printer

• Impact Printer - Dot matrix

– Selection : Speed, Unidirectional / Bidirectional.

– Adv. : Inexpensive, Multi-copy forms.

– Disadv. : Slow, Loud, Graphics of low Quality

• Non-impact Printer

– Inkjet

– Thermal

– Laser

– Adv. : Quiet, Can handle graphics, Varieties of fonts.

– Disadv. : Expensive.

Modem

• Speed - 56k, 33.6k, 28.8k

• Internal Modem

– Resides on the expansion board on the

slot of the motherboard.

– Does not require separate power

adapter.

– Cheaper than external modem.

– Has natural protection inside PC cabinet.

Modem contd...

• External Modem

– Resides on a self-contained box outside

the PC.

– Requires external power adapter.

– Connected to PC’s serial port via the

cable.

– Easy to install and troubleshoot such

as resetting the modem.

– Expensive than internal modems.

Cabinet

• Form Factor

• AT Cases

• ATX Cases

AT Cases

• Older Motherboards (pre-pentium)

• Advantages

– Well Established standard make.

– Easy and cheap design.

• Disadvantages

– Inefficient cooling.

– CPU socket location.

– Not suitable for P-II (& higher).

ATX Cases

• Newer Motherboards (Pentium based m/c)

• Advantages

– Efficient cooling.

– Easy accessibility for upgades.

– I/O are fixed onboard.

Troubleshooting

• You are not the first one to face the trouble.

• Some simple solutions.

– Check connections.

– Ensure that cards are inserted properly.

– Clean the devices.

– Check if minimum things needed to boot are present - motherboard,

processor, a full bank of memory, videocard and a drive

to boot.

Troubleshooting contd...

• The PC doesn’t start at all

– Count the number of beeps.

– No beeps - possible problem with BIOS or motherboard.

• The PC starts - partially

– No signal on the monitior.

– Video signal present with error mesage.

– OS starts.

– OS does not start - Hard-disk problem.

Troubleshooting contd...

• Video

– No video at all.

– Snow on the screen.

– The picture is horrible. Bad colors, dots, and streaks.

– Random, changing characters on the screen.

– The screen rolls upward or to the side.

Troubleshooting contd...

• Hard Drive

– Not bootable : A Hard Drive must be formatted and partitioned

before it can be used.

– Not detected by the BIOS - Check on a different m/c.

_ It works fine.

_ It does not work.

• Others

– System forgets time/settings

 

System software

System software provides the basic functions for computer usage and helps run the computer hardware and system. It includes a combination of the following:

• Device drivers
• Operating systems
• Servers
• Utilities
• Window systems

System software is responsible for managing a variety of independent hardware components, so that they can work together harmoniously. Its purpose is to unburden the application software programmer from the often complex details of the particular computer being used, including such accessories as communications devices, printers, device readers, displays and keyboards, and also to partition the computer's resources such as memory and processor time in a safe and stable manner.

Programming software

Programming software usually provides tools to assist a programmer in writing computer programs, and software using different programming languages in a more convenient way. The tools include:

• Compilers
• Debuggers
• Interpreters
• Linkers
• Text editors

An Integrated development environment (IDE) is a single application that attempts to manage all these functions.

Application software

Application software is developed to aid in any task that benefits from computation. It is a broad category, and encompasses software of many kinds, including the internet browser being used to display this page. This category includes:

• Business software
• Computer-aided design
• Databases
• Decision making software
• Educational software
• Image editing
• Industrial automation
• Mathematical software
• Medical software
• Molecular modeling software
• Quantum chemistry and solid state physics software
• Simulation software
• Spreadsheets
• Telecommunications (i.e., the Internet and everything that flows on it)
• Video editing software
• Video games
• Word processing

Software types

Examples of computer software include:

• Application software includes end-user applications of computers such as word processors or video games, and ERP software for groups of users.
• Middleware controls and co-ordinates distributed systems.
• Programming languages define the syntax and semantics of computer programs. For example, many mature banking applications were written in the COBOL language, originally invented in 1959. Newer applications are often written in more modern programming languages.
• System software includes operating systems, which govern computing resources. Today large applications running on remote machines such as Websites are considered to be system software, because the end-user interface is generally through a graphical user interface, such as a web browser.
• Teachware is any special breed of software or other means of product dedicated to education purposes in software engineering and beyond in general education^[9].
• Testware is any software for testing hardware or software.
• Firmware is low-level software often stored on electrically programmable memory devices. Firmware is given its name because it is treated like hardware and run ("executed") by other software programs. Firmware often is not accessible for change by other entities but the developers' enterprises.
• Shrinkware is the older name given to consumer-purchased software, because it was often sold in retail stores in a shrink-wrapped box.
• Device drivers control parts of computers such as disk drives, printers, CD drives, or computer monitors.
• Programming tools help conduct computing tasks in any category listed above. For programmers, these could be tools for debugging or reverse engineering older legacy systems in order to check source code compatibility.

Application software

Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with documents. Apps may be bundled with the computer and its system software, or may be published separately. Some users are satisfied with the bundled apps and need never install one.

Application software is contrasted with system software and middleware, which manage and integrate a computer's capabilities, but typically do not directly apply them in the performance of tasks that benefit the user. The system software serves the application, which in turn serves the user.

Similar relationships apply in other fields. For example, a shopping mall does not provide the merchandise a shopper is seeking, but provides space and services for retailers that serve the shopper. Rail tracks similarly support trains, allowing the trains to transport passengers.

Application software applies the power of a particular computing platform or system software to a particular purpose. Some apps such as Microsoft Office are available in versions for several different platforms; others have narrower requirements and are thus called, for example, a Geography application for Windows or an Android application for education or Linux gaming. Sometimes a new and popular application arises which only runs on one platform, increasing the desirability of that platform. This is called a killer application.

 

operating system (OS)

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What is an operating system? An operating system (sometimes abbreviated as "OS") is the program that, after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a computer. The other programs are called applications or application programs. The application programs make use of the operating system by making requests for services through a defined application program interface (API). In addition, users can interact directly with the operating system through a user interface such as a command language or a graphical user interface (GUI)

Learn More

• CIO Midmarket Resources

 An operating system performs these services for applications:

• In a multitasking operating system where multiple programs can be running at the same time, the operating system determines which applications should run in what order and how much time should be allowed for each application before giving another application a turn.
• It manages the sharing of internal memory among multiple applications.
• It handles input and output to and from attached hardware devices, such as hard disks, printers, and dial-up ports.
• It sends messages to each application or interactive user (or to a system operator) about the status of operation and any errors that may have occurred.
• It can offload the management of what are called batch jobs (for example, printing) so that the initiating application is freed from this work.
• On computers that can provide parallel processing, an operating system can manage how to divide the program so that it runs on more than one processor at a time.

All major computer platforms (hardware and software) require and sometimes include an operating system. Linux, Windows 2000, VMS, OS/400, AIX, and z/OS are all examples of operating systems.

 

WINDOWS OPERATING

Introduction

Microsoft Word is currently the most common word processor on the market. Because it is so common, the .doc (and to a lesser extent, .docx) format has become the de facto format for text documents. Word is often used to create files that end up in PDF and HTML. This article will cover several things that you can do to make web content created in Word more accessible.

Create Accessible Word Documents

Headings

A good heading structure is probably the most important accessibility consideration in most Word documents. Headings will allow screen reader users to navigate through the page easily and will make the page more usable for everyone. Many people do not use true styles in Word. For example, when creating a heading, they simply change the font, enlarge the font size, make it bold, etc. If this is done, the document has no real structure that can be discerned by a screen reader. In Word, the correct way to provide structure is to use Word styles. This section will outline how to add and edit headings in all common versions of Word. You can also add 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level headings using Ctrl + Alt + 1, 2, or 3 (Cmd + Option on a Mac).

Word 2000-2003

The drop-down styles list allows you to create true headings, as well as apply any previously-created custom style.

There are a couple of advantages of having true structure in Word documents. First, when the file is exported to HTML, it will retain the structure, making it accessible to screen readers. Second, the structure will also be retained when exported to PDF. In both cases, the added structure increases the readability of the document for people using screen readers.

Word 2007 and 2010

Word 2007 and later does a good job of encouraging the use of proper styles. About half of the default toolbar is devoted to styles. To change a block of text, select the text and click on the appropriate style.

Word for Mac

Styles on Word for Mac are available in the Formatting palette. The Styles dropdown list is similar to the list found in Word 2000-2003 for Windows.

Alternative text for images

Images can be give appropriate alterative text in Word. This alt text will be read by a screen reader in a Word file and should remain intact when exporting to HTML or PDF.

Notes

• Embedded charts should be given a text description within the context of the document itself. The data that is used to create the chart will be accessible in the original file (it is basically a simple spreadsheet), but will not be included in a PDF or HTML version.
• "Word art" is actually converted to an image in Office 2003-2007 and must be given alt text. It remains text in Office 2010.
• There is no way to add alt text to images in Word 2004 or 2008 for Mac.

Word 2000-2003

To provide alternative text, Right-click on the image, then select Format Picture....

A dialog box will appear. Select the Web tab and then add the appropriate alternative text.

Word 2007

Adding alt text to images is less intuitive in Word 2007. To add alternative text, right-click on the picture and select Size....

A dialog box will appear. Select the Alt Text tab. You will notice that the image filename is entered into the field by default. The filename is never appropriate alternative text. This functionality will almost certainly result in misuse of the alt attribute.

Replace the filename with appropriate alternative text. For this image, it would be something like "WebAIM - Web Accessibility in Mind".

Word 2010

Word 2010 moved the alt text field back to an intuitive place, but made things even more confusing by creating two fields for alt text. To add alt text to an image, Select the Format Picture... option.

With the Format Picture menu open, select the option for Alt Text in the sidebar. Two fields will appear, one labeled Title and one labeled Description. For best results, add appropriate alt text to the Description field, not the Title field. Information in the Title field will not be saved as alt text when the file is saved as HTML.

If you want to be extra safe, you can duplicate the alt text in both the Title and Description fields.

Data tables and accessibility issues

There is no way to assign table headers or <th> elements to a table created in Word. You can indicate that a row should Repeat as header on the top of each page; in the Table Properties menu. When saved as PDF, the cells in the first row are detected as table headers, though the headers are not maintained if the file is saved as HTML. Instead, the cells will all be contained in a <thead> element. The <thead>, <tfoot>, and <tbody> are used to divide the tables into the three main parts of a data table. While the inclusion of the <thead> element poses no problems, it does not replace the need for the <th> elements for all table headers. There is no way to add row headers (headers across the side of a table) in Word.

Links

Hyperlinks are usually created in Word by pasting the full url into a page (e.g., http://webaim.org/techniques/word/) and hitting space, Enter, or some other key. This automatically creates a link. It's simple, but the URL may not make sense to the reader. To change the hyperlink text, select a link, right click and select Edit Hyperlink, or select Ctrl + K (Cmd + K on a Mac). Change the URL in the Text to display field to something more descriptive.

If you are creating a Word document that may be both printed and read electronically, you may want to include visually provide the URL and a description in the link text - "WebAIM article on Creating accessible documents in Word (webaim.org/techniques/word)."

Other principles

In addition to the principles addressed above, most web accessibility principles can also be applied to files created in Word. The following is a list of a few other important accessibility principles:

• Use true numbered and bulleted lists.
• Ensure that font size is sufficient, usually around 12 points or more.
• Provide sufficient contrast.
• Don't use color as the only way to convey content.
• Use true columns, not tables or columns created by hand with the Tab key.
• Provide a table of contents, especially for long documents. If you have a good heading structure, creating a table of contents is easy.
• Use simple language.

Word 2010 Accessibility Checker

Word 2010 includes a new accessibility checker that allows you to check for accessibility problems. This is an excellent resource and one of the best accessibility features to come along in a long time. The accessibility checker makes it much easier to identify and repair accessibility issues. This is an excellent resource.

To run the accessibility checker, select File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility.

This will start the accessibility checker.

The checker presents accessibility errors (e.g., images with no alt text), warnings (e.g., unclear link text) and tips (e.g., skipping from a first level heading to a third level heading). Feedback about the importance of each item, as well as tips on how to repair it, are included. Selecting an item in the report will select the corresponding item in the document.

Docx Format

The "docx" format is the default file format for documents created in Word 2007 and newer. The format has some advantages (such as smaller file size), but is not as widely supported as the old "doc" format. Although there is a free download that allows users to open the newer format in older versions of Word, some content will be lost in the conversion process - external link. If the Word file is going to end up on the web, or if your going to send it to someone and are not doing anything that relies on the newer docx format, consider saving files as Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc) in Office 2007 and 2010.

Convert Word to HTML

Save as HTML in Word

When saving a Word document as HTML, the structure and alt text will be retained in the final document. To save as HTML, select File > Save as Web Page.... In Word 2007, select the Word logo in the upper right corner and then select Save As.

In Office XP or later, there are two options for exporting to HTML:

• Save as Web Page
• Save as Web Page, Filtered

The advantage of the Web Page option is that the page will look almost exactly like the printed document. The advantage of the Web Page, Filtered option is that the underlying code is much cleaner, the file size is significantly smaller, and most, if not all, of the look and feel of the original document is retained.

In terms of accessibility, both options are acceptable, as long as the source file was created with structure and with alternative text for images, the document does not contain any data tables, and other accessibility principles are applied. Because of the reduced amounts of Internet Explorer-specific markup, Filtered web pages are more likely to be supported and compatible in various web browsers.

"Paste Special" into Dreamweaver

If you are using Dreamweaver to author your web content, you can import Word content using the Paste Special option. Select all the content in your Word Document and Copy it to the clipboard. Then open an empty page in Dreamweaver, right-click and select Paste Special..., or Ctrl + Shift + V.

A dialog box will appear with four options:

• Text only
• Text with structure (paragraphs, lists, tables, etc.)
• Text with structure plus basic formatting (bold, italic)
• Text with structure plus full formatting (bold, italic, styles).

There are also options to Retain line breaks (if there are any) and Clean up Word paragraph spacing. Using any of the results will provide cleaner HTML than if you save as HTML in Word. Text with structure or Text with structure plus basic formatting is usually the best option.

Virtual508.com Accessible Web Publishing Wizard

A Word Document can also be converted to HTML with the Virtual508.com.Possible Web Publishing Wizard - external link for Microsoft Office. It is only available for the Windows operating system and requires the .NET framework. It should work with Office 2000-2007. The Wizard is not a free tool, but there is a demonstration version available that allows conversion of a limited number of pages or slides. The Office conversion tool is probably better suited for PowerPoint presentations. There is a Best Practices for Microsoft Word - external link reference manual that will inform you how to mark up the document so that the Word to HTML conversion process will be smoother.

 

Lesson 1-The Microsoft Excel Window

Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet. You can use it to organize your data into rows and columns. You can also use it to perform mathematical calculations quickly. This tutorial teaches Microsoft Excel basics. Although knowledge of how to navigate in a Windows environment is helpful, this tutorial was created for the computer novice.

This lesson will introduce you to the Excel window. You use the window to interact with Excel. To begin this lesson, start Microsoft Excel 2007. The Microsoft Excel window appears and your screen looks similar to the one shown here.

Note:

Your screen will probably not look exactly like the screen shown. In Excel 2007, how a window displays depends on the size of your window, the size of your monitor, and the resolution to which your monitor is set. Resolution determines how much information your computer monitor can display. If you use a low resolution, less information fits on your screen, but the size of your text and images are larger. If you use a high resolution, more information fits on your screen, but the size of the text and images are smaller. Also, settings in Excel 2007, Windows Vista, and Windows XP allow you to change the color and style of your windows.

The Microsoft Office Button

In the upper-left corner of the Excel 2007 window is the Microsoft Office button. When you click the button, a menu appears. You can use the menu to create a new file, open an existing file, save a file, and perform many other tasks.

The Quick Access Toolbar

Next to the Microsoft Office button is the Quick Access toolbar. The Quick Access toolbar gives you with access to commands you frequently use. By default, Save, Undo, and Redo appear on the Quick Access toolbar. You can use Save to save your file, Undo to roll back an action you have taken, and Redo to reapply an action you have rolled back.

The Title Bar

Next to the Quick Access toolbar is the Title bar. On the Title bar, Microsoft Excel displays the name of the workbook you are currently using. At the top of the Excel window, you should see "Microsoft Excel - Book1" or a similar name.

The Ribbon

You use commands to tell Microsoft Excel what to do. In Microsoft Excel 2007, you use the Ribbon to issue commands. The Ribbon is located near the top of the Excel window, below the Quick Access toolbar. At the top of the Ribbon are several tabs; clicking a tab displays several related command groups. Within each group are related command buttons. You click buttons to issue commands or to access menus and dialog boxes. You may also find a dialog box launcher in the bottom-right corner of a group. When you click the dialog box launcher, a dialog box makes additional commands available.

Worksheets

Microsoft Excel consists of worksheets. Each worksheet contains columns and rows. The columns are lettered A to Z and then continuing with AA, AB, AC and so on; the rows are numbered 1 to 1,048,576. The number of columns and rows you can have in a worksheet is limited by your computer memory and your system resources.

The combination of a column coordinate and a row coordinate make up a cell address. For example, the cell located in the upper-left corner of the worksheet is cell A1, meaning column A, row 1. Cell E10 is located under column E on row 10. You enter your data into the cells on the worksheet.

The Formula Bar

Formula Bar

If the Formula bar is turned on, the cell address of the cell you are in displays in the Name box which is located on the left side of the Formula bar. Cell entries display on the right side of the Formula bar. If you do not see the Formula bar in your window, perform the following steps:

1. Choose the View tab.
2. Click Formula Bar in the Show/Hide group. The Formula bar appears.

Note

: The current cell address displays on the left side of the Formula bar.

The Status Bar

The Status bar appears at the very bottom of the Excel window and provides such information as the sum, average, minimum, and maximum value of selected numbers. You can change what displays on the Status bar by right-clicking on the Status bar and selecting the options you want from the Customize Status Bar menu. You click a menu item to select it. You click it again to deselect it. A check mark next to an item means the item is selected.

Move Around a Worksheet

By using the arrow keys, you can move around your worksheet. You can use the down arrow key to move downward one cell at a time. You can use the up arrow key to move upward one cell at a time. You can use the Tab key to move across the page to the right, one cell at a time. You can hold down the Shift key and then press the Tab key to move to the left, one cell at a time. You can use the right and left arrow keys to move right or left one cell at a time. The Page Up and Page Down keys move up and down one page at a time. If you hold down the Ctrl key and then press the Home key, you move to the beginning of the worksheet.

Move Around the Worksheet

The Down Arrow Key

• Press the down arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves downward one cell at a time.

The Up Arrow Key

• Press the up arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves upward one cell at a time.

The Tab Key

1. Move to cell A1.
2. Press the Tab key several times. Note that the cursor moves to the right one cell at a time.

The Shift+Tab Keys

• Hold down the Shift key and then press Tab. Note that the cursor moves to the left one cell at a time.

The Right and Left Arrow Keys

1. Press the right arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves to the right.
2. Press the left arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves to the left.

Page Up and Page Down

1. Press the Page Down key. Note that the cursor moves down one page.
2. Press the Page Up key. Note that the cursor moves up one page.

The Ctrl-Home Key

1. Move the cursor to column J.
2. Stay in column J and move the cursor to row 20.
3. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press the Home key. Excel moves to cell A1.

Go To Cells Quickly

The following are shortcuts for moving quickly from one cell in a worksheet to a cell in a different part of the worksheet.

Go to -- F5

The F5 function key is the "Go To" key. If you press the F5 key, you are prompted for the cell to which you wish to go. Enter the cell address, and the cursor jumps to that cell.

1. Press F5. The Go To dialog box opens.
2. Type J3 in the Reference field.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell J3.

Go to -- Ctrl+G

You can also use Ctrl+G to go to a specific cell.

1. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press "g" (Ctrl+g). The Go To dialog box opens.
2. Type C4 in the Reference field.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell C4.

The Name Box

You can also use the Name box to go to a specific cell. Just type the cell you want to go to in the Name box and then press Enter.

1. Type B10 in the Name box.
2. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell B10.

Select Cells

If you wish to perform a function on a group of cells, you must first select those cells by highlighting them. The exercises that follow teach you how to select.

Select Cells

To select cells A1 to E1:

1. Go to cell A1.
2. Press the F8 key. This anchors the cursor.
3. Note that "Extend Selection" appears on the Status bar in the lower-left corner of the window. You are in the Extend mode.
4. Click in cell E7. Excel highlights cells A1 to E7.
5. Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to clear the highlighting.

Alternative Method: Select Cells by Dragging

You can also select an area by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse over the area. In addition, you can select noncontiguous areas of the worksheet by doing the following:

1. Go to cell A1.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key. You won't release it until step 9. Holding down the Ctrl key enables you to select noncontiguous areas of the worksheet.
3. Press the left mouse button.
4. While holding down the left mouse button, use the mouse to move from cell A1 to C5.
5. Continue to hold down the Ctrl key, but release the left mouse button.
6. Using the mouse, place the cursor in cell D7.
7. Press the left mouse button.
8. While holding down the left mouse button, move to cell F10. Release the left mouse button.
9. Release the Ctrl key. Cells A1 to C5 and cells D7 to F10 are selected.
10. Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to remove the highlighting.

Enter Data

In this section, you will learn how to enter data into your worksheet. First, place the cursor in the cell in which you want to start entering data. Type some data, and then press Enter. If you need to delete, press the Backspace key to delete one character at a time.

Enter Data

1. Place the cursor in cell A1.
2. Type John Jordan. Do not press Enter at this time.

Delete Data

The Backspace key erases one character at a time.

1. Press the Backspace key until Jordan is erased.
2. Press Enter. The name "John" appears in cell A1.

Edit a Cell

After you enter data into a cell, you can edit the data by pressing F2 while you are in the cell you wish to edit.

Edit a Cell

Change "John" to "Jones."

1. Move to cell A1.
2. Press F2.
3. Use the Backspace key to delete the "n" and the "h."
4. Type nes.
5. Press Enter.

Alternate Method: Editing a Cell by Using the Formula Bar

You can also edit the cell by using the Formula bar. You change "Jones" to "Joker" in the following exercise.

1. Move the cursor to cell A1.
2. Click in the formula area of the Formula bar.

3. Use the backspace key to erase the "s," "e," and "n."
4. Type ker.
5. Press Enter.

Alternate Method: Edit a Cell by Double-Clicking in the Cell

You can change "Joker" to "Johnson" as follows:

1. Move to cell A1.
2. Double-click in cell A1.
3. Press the End key. Your cursor is now at the end of your text.

3. Use the Backspace key to erase "r," "e," and "k."
4. Type hnson.
5. Press Enter.

Change a Cell Entry

Typing in a cell replaces the old cell entry with the new information you type.

1. Move the cursor to cell A1.
2. Type Cathy.
3. Press Enter. The name "Cathy" replaces "Johnson."

Wrap Text

When you type text that is too long to fit in the cell, the text overlaps the next cell. If you do not want it to overlap the next cell, you can wrap the text.

Wrap Text

1. Move to cell A2.
2. Type Text too long to fit.
3. Press Enter.

4. Return to cell A2.
5. Choose the Home tab.
6. Click the Wrap Text button . Excel wraps the text in the cell.

Delete a Cell Entry

To delete an entry in a cell or a group of cells, you place the cursor in the cell or select the group of cells and press Delete.

Delete a Cell Entry

1. Select cells A1 to A2.
2. Press the Delete key.

Save a File

This is the end of Lesson1. To save your file:

1. Click the Office button. A menu appears.
2. Click Save. The Save As dialog box appears.
3. Go to the directory in which you want to save your file.
4. Type Lesson1 in the File Name field.
5. Click Save. Excel saves your file.

Close Excel

Close Microsoft Excel.

1. Click the Office button. A menu appears.
2. Click Close. Excel closes.

Lesson 2: Entering Excel Formulas and Formatting Data

Lesson 1 familiarized you with the Excel 2007 window, taught you how to move around the window, and how to enter data. A major strength of Excel is that you can perform mathematical calculations and format your data. In this lesson, you learn how to perform basic mathematical calculations and how to format text and numerical data. To start this lesson, open Excel.

Set the Enter Key Direction

In Microsoft Excel, you can specify the direction the cursor moves when you press the Enter key. In the exercises that follow, the cursor must move down one cell when you press Enter. You can use the Direction box in the Excel Options pane to set the cursor to move up, down, left, right, or not at all. Perform the steps that follow to set the cursor to move down when you press the Enter key.

1. Click the Microsoft Office button. A menu appears.
2. Click Excel Options in the lower-right corner. The Excel Options pane appears.

3. Click Advanced.
4. If the check box next to After Pressing Enter Move Selection is not checked, click the box to check it.
5. If Down does not appear in the Direction box, click the down arrow next to the Direction box and then click Down.
6. Click OK. Excel sets the Enter direction to down.

Perform Mathematical Calculations

In Microsoft Excel, you can enter numbers and mathematical formulas into cells. Whether you enter a number or a formula, you can reference the cell when you perform mathematical calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. When entering a mathematical formula, precede the formula with an equal sign. Use the following to indicate the type of calculation you wish to perform:

+ Addition

- Subtraction

* Multiplication

/ Division

^ Exponential

In the following exercises, you practice some of the methods you can use to move around a worksheet and you learn how to perform mathematical calculations. Refer to Lesson 1 to learn more about moving around a worksheet.

Addition

1. Type Add in cell A1.
2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
3. Type 1 in cell A2.
4. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
5. Type 1 in cell A3.
6. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
7. Type =A2+A3 in cell A4.
8. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel adds cell A1 to cell A2 and displays the result in cell A4. The formula displays on the Formula bar.

Note:

Clicking the check mark on the Formula bar is similar to pressing Enter. Excel records your entry but does not move to the next cell.

Subtraction

1. Press F5. The Go To dialog box appears.
2. Type B1 in the Reference field.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell B1.

4. Type Subtract.
5. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
6. Type 6 in cell B2.
7. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
8. Type 3 in cell B3.
9. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
10. Type =B2-B3 in cell B4.
11. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel subtracts cell B3 from cell B2 and the result displays in cell B4. The formula displays on the Formula bar.

Multiplication

1. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press "g" (Ctrl+g). The Go To dialog box appears.
2. Type C1 in the Reference field.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell C1
4. Type Multiply.
5. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
6. Type 2 in cell C2.
7. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
8. Type 3 in cell C3.
9. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
10. Type =C2*C3 in cell C4.
11. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel multiplies C1 by cell C2 and displays the result in cell C3. The formula displays on the Formula bar.

Division

1. Press F5.
2. Type D1 in the Reference field.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell D1.
4. Type Divide.
5. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
6. Type 6 in cell D2.
7. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
8. Type 3 in cell D3.
9. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
10. Type =D2/D3 in cell D4.
11. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel divides cell D2 by cell D3 and displays the result in cell D4. The formula displays on the Formula bar.

When creating formulas, you can reference cells and include numbers. All of the following formulas are valid:

=A2/B2

=A1+12-B3

=A2*B2+12

=24+53

AutoSum

You can use the AutoSum button

on the Home tab to automatically add a column or row of numbers. When you press the AutoSum button

, Excel selects the numbers it thinks you want to add. If you then click the check mark on the Formula bar or press the Enter key, Excel adds the numbers. If Excel's guess as to which numbers you want to add is wrong, you can select the cells you want.

AutoSum

The following illustrates AutoSum:

1. Go to cell F1.
2. Type 3.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
4. Type 3.
5. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
6. Type 3.
7. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell to cell F4.
8. Choose the Home tab.
9. Click the AutoSum button in the Editing group. Excel selects cells F1 through F3 and enters a formula in cell F4.

10. Press Enter. Excel adds cells F1 through F3 and displays the result in cell F4.

Perform Automatic Calculations

By default, Microsoft Excel recalculates the worksheet as you change cell entries. This makes it easy for you to correct mistakes and analyze a variety of scenarios.

Automatic Calculation

Make the changes described below and note how Microsoft Excel automatically recalculates.

1. Move to cell A2.
2. Type 2.
3. Press the right arrow key. Excel changes the result in cell A4. Excel adds cell A2 to cell A3 and the new result appears in cell A4.
4. Move to cell B2.
5. Type 8.
6. Press the right arrow key.  Excel subtracts cell B3 from cell B3 and the new result appears in cell B4.
7. Move to cell C2.
8. Type 4.
9. Press the right arrow key. Excel multiplies cell C2 by cell C3 and the new result appears in cell C4.
10. Move to cell D2.
11. Type 12.
12. Press the Enter key. Excel divides cell D2 by cell D3 and the new result appears in cell D4.

Align Cell Entries

When you type text into a cell, by default your entry aligns with the left side of the cell. When you type numbers into a cell, by default your entry aligns with the right side of the cell. You can change the cell alignment. You can center, left-align, or right-align any cell entry. Look at cells A1 to D1. Note that they are aligned with the left side of the cell.

Center

To center cells A1 to D1:

1. Select cells A1 to D1.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the Center button in the Alignment group. Excel centers each cell's content.

Left-Align

To left-align cells A1 to D1:

1. Select cells A1 to D1.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the Align Text Left button in the Alignment group. Excel left-aligns each cell's content.

Right-Align

To right-align cells A1 to D1:

1. Select cells A1 to D1. Click in cell A1.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the Align Text Right button. Excel right-aligns the cell's content.
4. Click anywhere on your worksheet to clear the highlighting.

Note:

You can also change the alignment of cells with numbers in them by using the alignment buttons.

Perform Advanced Mathematical Calculations

When you perform mathematical calculations in Excel, be careful of precedence. Calculations are performed from left to right, with multiplication and division performed before addition and subtraction.

Advanced Calculations

1. Move to cell A7.
2. Type =3+3+12/2*4.
3. Press Enter.

Note:

Microsoft Excel divides 12 by 2, multiplies the answer by 4, adds 3, and then adds another 3. The answer, 30, displays in cell A7.

To change the order of calculation, use parentheses. Microsoft Excel calculates the information in parentheses first.

1. Double-click in cell A7.
2. Edit the cell to read =(3+3+12)/2*4.
3. Press Enter.

Note:

Microsoft Excel adds 3 plus 3 plus 12, divides the answer by 2, and then multiplies the result by 4. The answer, 36, displays in cell A7.

Copy, Cut, Paste, and Cell Addressing

In Excel, you can copy data from one area of a worksheet and place the data you copied anywhere in the same or another worksheet. In other words, after you type information into a worksheet, if you want to place the same information somewhere else, you do not have to retype the information. You simple copy it and then paste it in the new location.

You can use Excel's Cut feature to remove information from a worksheet.  Then you can use the Paste feature to place the information you cut anywhere in the same or another worksheet.   In other words, you can move information from one place in a worksheet to another place in the same or different worksheet by using the Cut and Paste features.

Microsoft Excel records cell addresses in formulas in three different ways, called absolute, relative, and mixed. The way a formula is recorded is important when you copy it. With relative cell addressing, when you copy a formula from one area of the worksheet to another, Excel records the position of the cell relative to the cell that originally contained the formula. With absolute cell addressing, when you copy a formula from one area of the worksheet to another, Excel references the same cells, no matter where you copy the formula. You can use mixed cell addressing to keep the row constant while the column changes, or vice versa. The following exercises demonstrate.

Copy, Cut, Paste, and Cell Addressing

1. Move to cell A9.
2. Type 1. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
3. Type 1. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
4. Type 1. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
5. Move to cell B9.
6. Type 2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
7. Type 2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
8. Type 2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.

In addition to typing a formula as you did in Lesson 1, you can also enter formulas by using Point mode. When you are in Point mode, you can enter a formula either by clicking on a cell or by using the arrow keys.

1. Move to cell A12.
2. Type =.
3. Use the up arrow key to move to cell A9.
4. Type +.
5. Use the up arrow key to move to cell A10.
6. Type +.
7. Use the up arrow key to move to cell A11.
8. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Look at the Formula bar. Note that the formula you entered is displayed there.

Copy with the Ribbon

To copy the formula you just entered, follow these steps:

1. You should be in cell A12.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the Copy button in the Clipboard group. Excel copies the formula in cell A12.

4. Press the right arrow key once to move to cell B12.
5. Click the Paste button in the Clipboard group. Excel pastes the formula in cell A12 into cell B12.
6. Press the Esc key to exit the Copy mode.

Compare the formula in cell A12 with the formula in cell B12 (while in the respective cell, look at the Formula bar). The formulas are the same except that the formula in cell A12 sums the entries in column A and the formula in cell B12 sums the entries in column B. The formula was copied in a relative fashion.

Before proceeding with the next part of the exercise, you must copy the information in cells A7 to B9 to cells C7 to D9. This time you will copy by using the Mini toolbar.

Copy with the Mini Toolbar

1. Select cells A9 to B11. Move to cell A9. Press the Shift key. While holding down the Shift key, press the down arrow key twice. Press the right arrow key once. Excel highlights A9 to B11.
2. Right-click. A context menu and a Mini toolbar appear.
3. Click Copy, which is located on the context menu. Excel copies the information in cells A9 to B11.

4. Move to cell C9.
5. Right-click. A context menu appears.
6. Click Paste. Excel copies the contents of cells A9 to B11 to cells C9 to C11.

7. Press Esc to exit Copy mode.

Absolute Cell Addressing

You make a cell address an absolute cell address by placing a dollar sign in front of the row and column identifiers. You can do this automatically by using the F4 key. To illustrate:

1. Move to cell C12.
2. Type =.
3. Click cell C9.
4. Press F4. Dollar signs appear before the C and the 9.
5. Type +.
6. Click cell C10.
7. Press F4. Dollar signs appear before the C and the 10.
8. Type +.
9. Click cell C11.
10. Press F4. Dollar signs appear before the C and the 11.
11. Click the check mark on the formula bar. Excel records the formula in cell C12.

Copy and Paste with Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are key combinations that enable you to perform tasks by using the keyboard. Generally, you press and hold down a key while pressing a letter. For example, Ctrl+c means you should press and hold down the Ctrl key while pressing "c." This tutorial notates key combinations as follows:

Press Ctrl+c.

Now copy the formula from C12 to D12. This time, copy by using keyboard shortcuts.

1. Move to cell C12.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press "c" (Ctrl+c). Excel copies the contents of cell C12.
3. Press the right arrow once. Excel moves to D12.
4. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press "v" (Ctrl+v). Excel pastes the contents of cell C12 into cell D12.
5. Press Esc to exit the Copy mode.

Compare the formula in cell C12 with the formula in cell D12 (while in the respective cell, look at the Formula bar). The formulas are exactly the same. Excel copied the formula from cell C12 to cell D12. Excel copied the formula in an absolute fashion. Both formulas sum column C.

Mixed Cell Addressing

You use mixed cell addressing to reference a cell when you want to copy part of it absolute and part relative. For example, the row can be absolute and the column relative. You can use the F4 key to create a mixed cell reference.

1. Move to cell E1.
2. Type =.
3. Press the up arrow key once.
4. Press F4.
5. Press F4 again. Note that the column is relative and the row is absolute.
6. Press F4 again. Note that the column is absolute and the row is relative.
7. Press Esc.

Cut and Paste

You can move data from one area of a worksheet to another.

1. Select cells D9 to D12
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the Cut button.
4. Move to cell G1.

5. Click the Paste button . Excel moves the contents of cells D9 to D12 to cells G1 to G4.

The keyboard shortcut for Cut is Ctrl+x. The steps for cutting and pasting with a keyboard shortcut are:

1. Select the cells you want to cut and paste.
2. Press Ctrl+x.
3. Move to the upper-left corner of the block of cells into which you want to paste.
4. Press Ctrl+v. Excel cuts and pastes the cells you selected.

Insert and Delete Columns and Rows

You can insert and delete columns and rows. When you delete a column, you delete everything in the column from the top of the worksheet to the bottom of the worksheet. When you delete a row, you delete the entire row from left to right. Inserting a column or row inserts a completely new column or row.

Insert and Delete Columns and Rows

To delete columns F and G:

1. Click the column F indicator and drag to column G.
2. Click the down arrow next to Delete in the Cells group. A menu appears.
3. Click Delete Sheet Columns. Excel deletes the columns you selected.
4. Click anywhere on the worksheet to remove your selection.

To delete rows 7 through 12:

1. Click the row 7 indicator and drag to row 12.
2. Click the down arrow next to Delete in the Cells group. A menu appears.
3. Click Delete Sheet Rows. Excel deletes the rows you selected.
4. Click anywhere on the worksheet to remove your selection.

To insert a column:

1. Click on A to select column A.
2. Click the down arrow next to Insert in the Cells group. A menu appears.
3. Click Insert Sheet Columns. Excel inserts a new column.
4. Click anywhere on the worksheet to remove your selection.

To insert rows:

1. Click on 1 and then drag down to 2 to select rows 1 and 2.
2. Click the down arrow next to Insert in the Cells group. A menu appears.
3. Click Insert Sheet Rows. Excel inserts two new rows.
4. Click anywhere on the worksheet to remove your selection.

Your worksheet should look like the one shown here.

Create Borders

You can use borders to make entries in your Excel worksheet stand out. You can choose from several types of borders. When you press the down arrow next to the Border button

, a menu appears. By making the proper selection from the menu, you can place a border on the top, bottom, left, or right side of the selected cells; on all sides; or around the outside border. You can have a thick outside border or a border with a single-line top and a double-line bottom. Accountants usually place a single underline above a final number and a double underline below. The following illustrates:

Create Borders

1. Select cells B6 to E6.

2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the Borders button . A menu appears.
4. Click Top and Double Bottom Border. Excel adds the border you chose to the selected cells.

Merge and Center

Sometimes, particularly when you give a title to a section of your worksheet, you will want to center a piece of text over several columns or rows. The following example shows you how.

Merge and Center

1. Go to cell B2.
2. Type Sample Worksheet.
3. Click the check mark on the Formula bar.
4. Select cells B2 to E2.
5. Choose the Home tab.
6. Click the Merge and Center button in the Alignment group. Excel merges cells B2, C2, D2, and E2 and then centers the content.

Note:

To unmerge cells:

1. Select the cell you want to unmerge.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the Merge and Center button. A menu appears.
4. Click Unmerge Cells. Excel unmerges the cells.

Add Background Color

To make a section of your worksheet stand out, you can add background color to a cell or group of cells.

Add Background Color

1. Select cells B2 to E3.

2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the Fill Color button .
4. Click the color dark blue. Excel places a dark blue background in the cells you selected.

Change the Font, Font Size, and Font Color

A font is a set of characters represented in a single typeface. Each character within a font is created by using the same basic style. Excel provides many different fonts from which you can choose. The size of a font is measured in points. There are 72 points to an inch. The number of points assigned to a font is based on the distance from the top to the bottom of its longest character. You can change the Font, Font Size, and Font Color of the data you enter into Excel.

Change the Font

1. Select cells B2 to E3.

2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the Font box. A list of fonts appears. As you scroll down the list of fonts, Excel provides a preview of the font in the cell you selected.
4. Find and click Times New Roman in the Font box. Note: If Times New Roman is your default font, click another font. Excel changes the font in the selected cells.

Change the Font Size

1. Select cell B2.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the Font Size box. A list of font sizes appears. As you scroll up or down the list of font sizes, Excel provides a preview of the font size in the cell you selected.
4. Click 26. Excel changes the font size in cell B2 to 26.

Change the Font Color

1. Select cells B2 to E3.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the Font Color button .
4. Click on the color white. Your font color changes to white.

Your worksheet should look like the one shown here.

Move to a New Worksheet

In Microsoft Excel, each workbook is made up of several worksheets. Each worksheet has a tab. By default, a workbook has three sheets and they are named sequentially, starting with Sheet1. The name of the worksheet appears on the tab. Before moving to the next topic, move to a new worksheet. The exercise that follows shows you how.

Move to a New Worksheet

• Click Sheet2 in the lower-left corner of the screen. Excel moves to Sheet2.

Bold, Italicize, and Underline

When creating an Excel worksheet, you may want to emphasize the contents of cells by bolding, italicizing, and/or underlining. You can easily bold, italicize, or underline text with Microsoft Excel. You can also combine these features—in other words, you can bold, italicize, and underline a single piece of text.

In the exercises that follow, you will learn different methods you can use to bold, italicize, and underline.

Bold with the Ribbon

1. Type Bold in cell A1.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Choose the Home tab.
4. Click the Bold button . Excel bolds the contents of the cell.
5. Click the Bold button again if you wish to remove the bold.

Italicize with the Ribbon

1. Type Italic in cell B1.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Choose the Home tab.
4. Click the Italic button . Excel italicizes the contents of the cell.
5. Click the Italic button again if you wish to remove the italic.

Underline with the Ribbon

Microsoft Excel provides two types of underlines. The exercises that follow illustrate them.

Single Underline:

1. Type Underline in cell C1.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Choose the Home tab.
4. Click the Underline button . Excel underlines the contents of the cell.
5. Click the Underline button again if you wish to remove the underline.

Double Underline

1. Type Underline in cell D1.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Choose the Home tab.
4. Click the down arrow next to the Underline button and then click Double Underline. Excel double-underlines the contents of the cell. Note that the Underline button changes to the button shown here , a D with a double underline under it. Then next time you click the Underline button, you will get a double underline. If you want a single underline, click the down arrow next to the Double Underline button and then choose Underline.
5. Click the double underline button again if you wish to remove the double underline.

Bold, Underline, and Italicize

1. Type All three in cell E1.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Choose the Home tab.
4. Click the Bold button . Excel bolds the cell contents.
5. Click the Italic button . Excel italicizes the cell contents.
6. Click the Underline button . Excel underlines the cell contents.

Alternate Method: Bold with Shortcut Keys

1. Type Bold in cell A2.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Hold down the Ctrl key while pressing "b" (Ctrl+b). Excel bolds the contents of the cell.
4. Press Ctrl+b again if you wish to remove the bolding.

Alternate Method: Italicize with Shortcut Keys

1. Type Italic in cell B2. Note: Because you previously entered the word Italic in column B, Excel may enter the word in the cell automatically after you type the letter I. Excel does this to speed up your data entry.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Hold down the Ctrl key while pressing "i" (Ctrl+i). Excel italicizes the contents of the cell.
4. Press Ctrl+i again if you wish to remove the italic formatting.

Alternate Method: Underline with Shortcut Keys

1. Type Underline in cell C2.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Hold down the Ctrl key while pressing "u" (Ctrl+u). Excel applies a single underline to the cell contents.
4. Press Ctrl+u again if you wish to remove the underline.

Bold, Italicize, and Underline with Shortcut Keys

1. Type All three in cell D2.
2. Click the check mark located on the Formula bar.
3. Hold down the Ctrl key while pressing "b" (Ctrl+b). Excel bolds the cell contents.
4. Hold down the Ctrl key while pressing "i" (Ctrl+i). Excel italicizes the cell contents.
5. Hold down the Ctrl key while pressing "u" (Ctrl+u). Excel applies a single underline to the cell contents.

Work with Long Text

Whenever you type text that is too long to fit into a cell, Microsoft Excel attempts to display all the text. It left-aligns the text regardless of the alignment you have assigned to it, and it borrows space from the blank cells to the right. However, a long text entry will never write over cells that already contain entries—instead, the cells that contain entries cut off the long text. The following exercise illustrates this.

Work with Long Text

1. Move to cell A6.
2. Type Now is the time for all good men to go to the aid of their army.
3. Press Enter. Everything that does not fit into cell A6 spills over into the adjacent cell.

4. Move to cell B6.
5. Type Test.
6. Press Enter. Excel cuts off the entry in cell A6.

7. Move to cell A6.
8. Look at the Formula bar. The text is still in the cell.

Change A Column's Width

You can increase column widths. Increasing the column width enables you to see the long text.

Change Column Width

1. Make sure you are in any cell under column A.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to Format in the Cells group.
4. Click Column Width. The Column Width dialog box appears.
5. Type 55 in the Column Width field.
6. Click OK. Column A is set to a width of 55. You should now be able to see all of the text.

Change a Column Width by Dragging

You can also change the column width with the cursor.

1. Place the mouse pointer on the line between the B and C column headings. The mouse pointer should look like the one displayed here , with two arrows.
2. Move your mouse to the right while holding down the left mouse button. The width indicator appears on the screen.
3. Release the left mouse button when the width indicator shows approximately 20. Excel increases the column width to 20.

Format Numbers

You can format the numbers you enter into Microsoft Excel. For example, you can add commas to separate thousands, specify the number of decimal places, place a dollar sign in front of a number, or display a number as a percent.

Format Numbers

1. Move to cell B8.
2. Type 1234567.
3. Click the check mark on the Formula bar.

4. Choose the Home tab.
5. Click the down arrow next to the Number Format box. A menu appears.
6. Click Number. Excel adds two decimal places to the number you typed.

7. Click the Comma Style button . Excel separates thousands with a comma.
8. Click the Accounting Number Format button . Excel adds a dollar sign to your number.
9. Click twice on the Increase Decimal button to change the number format to four decimal places.
10. Click the Decrease Decimal button if you wish to decrease the number of decimal places.

Change a decimal to a percent.

1. Move to cell B9.
2. Type .35 (note the decimal point).
3. Click the check mark on the formula bar.

4. Choose the Home tab.
5. Click the Percent Style button . Excel turns the decimal to a percent.

Lesson 3: Creating Excel Functions, Filling Cells, and Printing

By using functions, you can quickly and easily make many useful calculations, such as finding an average, the highest number, the lowest number, and a count of the number of items in a list. Microsoft Excel has many functions that you can use.

Using Reference Operators

To use functions, you need to understand reference operators. Reference operators refer to a cell or a group of cells. There are two types of reference operators: range  and union.

A range reference refers to all the cells between and including the reference. A range reference consists of two cell addresses separated by a colon. The reference A1:A3 includes cells A1, A2, and A3. The reference A1:C3 includes cells A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, and C3.

A union reference includes two or more references. A union reference consists of two or more numbers, range references, or cell addresses separated by a comma. The reference A7,B8:B10,C9,10 refers to cells A7, B8 to B10, C9 and the number 10.

Understanding Functions

Functions

are prewritten formulas. Functions differ from regular formulas in that you supply the value but not the operators, such as +, -, *, or /. For example, you can use the SUM function to add. When using a function, remember the following:

Use an equal sign to begin a formula.

Specify the function name.

Enclose arguments within parentheses. Arguments are values on which you want to perform the calculation. For example, arguments specify the numbers or cells you want to add.

Use a comma to separate arguments.

Here is an example of a function:

=SUM(2,13,A1,B2:C7)

In this function:

The equal sign begins the function.

SUM is the name of the function.

2, 13, A1, and B2:C7 are the arguments.

Parentheses enclose the arguments.

Commas separate the arguments.

After you type the first letter of a function name, the AutoComplete list appears. You can double-click on an item in the AutoComplete list to complete your entry quickly. Excel will complete the function name and enter the first parenthesis.

Functions

The SUM function adds argument values.

1. Open Microsoft Excel.
2. Type 12 in cell B1.
3. Press Enter.
4. Type 27 in cell B2.
5. Press Enter.
6. Type 24 in cell B3.
7. Press Enter.
8. Type =SUM(B1:B3) in cell A4.
9. Press Enter. The sum of cells B1 to B3, which is 63, appears.

Alternate Method: Enter a Function with the Ribbon

1. Type 150 in cell C1.
2. Press Enter.
3. Type 85 in cell C2.
4. Press Enter.
5. Type 65 in cell C3.
6. Choose the Formulas tab.
7. Click the Insert Function button. The Insert Function dialog box appears.
8. Choose Math & Trig in the Or Select A Category box.
9. Click Sum in the Select A Function box.
10. Click OK. The Function Arguments dialog box appears.

12. Type C1:C3 in the Number1 field, if it does not automatically appear.
13. Click OK. The sum of cells C1 to C3, which is 300, appears.

Format worksheet

1. Move to cell A4.
2. Type the word Sum.
3. Select cells B4 to C4.
4. Choose the Home tab.
5. Click the down arrow next to the Borders button .
6. Click Top and Double Bottom Border.

As you learned in Lesson 2, you can also calculate a sum by using the AutoSum button

.

Calculate an Average

You can use the AVERAGE function to calculate the average of a series of numbers.

1. Move to cell A6.
2. Type Average. Press the right arrow key to move to cell B6.
3. Type =AVERAGE(B1:B3).
4. Press Enter. The average of cells B1 to B3, which is 21, appears.

Calculate an Average with the AutoSum Button

In Microsoft Excel, you can use the AutoSum button

to calculate an average.

1. Move to cell C6.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the AutoSum button .
4. Click Average.

5. Select cells C1 to C3.
6. Press Enter. The average of cells C1 to C3, which is 100, appears.

Find the Lowest Number

You can use the MIN function to find the lowest number in a series of numbers.

1. Move to cell A7.
2. Type Min.
3. Press the right arrow key to move to cell B7.
4. Type = MIN(B1:B3).
5. Press Enter. The lowest number in the series, which is 12, appears.

Note:

You can also use the drop-down button next to the AutoSum button

to calculate minimums, maximums, and counts.

Find the Highest Number

You can use the MAX function to find the highest number in a series of numbers.

.

1. Move to cell A8.
2. Type Max.
3. Press the right arrow key to move to cell B8.
4. Type = MAX(B1:B3).
5. Press Enter. The highest number in the series, which is 27, appears.

Count the Numbers in a Series of Numbers

You can use the count function to count the number of numbers in a series.

1. Move to cell A9.
2. Type Count.
3. Press the right arrow key to move to cell B9.
4. Choose the Home tab.
5. Click the down arrow next to the AutoSum button .
6. Click Count Numbers. Excel places the count function in cell C9 and takes a guess at which cells you want to count. The guess is incorrect, so you must select the proper cells.

7. Select B1 to B3.
8. Press Enter. The number of items in the series, which is 3, appears.

Fill Cells Automatically

You can use Microsoft Excel to fill cells automatically with a series. For example, you can have Excel automatically fill your worksheet with days of the week, months of the year, years, or other types of series.

Fill Cells Automatically

The following demonstrates filling the days of the week:

1. Click the Sheet2 tab. Excel moves to Sheet2.
2. Move to cell A1.
3. Type Sun.
4. Move to cell B1.
5. Type Sunday.
6. Select cells A1 to B1.
7. Choose the Home tab.
8. Click the Bold button . Excel bolds cells A1 to B1.
9. Find the small black square in the lower-right corner of the selected area. The small black square is called the fill handle.
10. Grab the fill handle and drag with your mouse to fill cells A1 to B14. Note how the days of the week fill the cells in a series. Also, note that the Auto Fill Options button appears.

Copy Cells

1. Click the Auto Fill Options button. The Auto Fill Options menu appears.
2. Choose the Copy Cells radio button. The entry in cells A1 and B1 are copied to all the highlighted cells.
3. Click the Auto Fill Options button again.
4. Choose the Fill Series radio button. The cells fill as a series from Sunday to Saturday again.
5. Click the Auto Fill Options button again.
6. Choose the Fill Without Formatting radio button. The cells fill as a series from Sunday to Saturday, but the entries are not bolded.
7. Click the Auto Fill Options button again.
8. Choose the Fill Weekdays radio button. The cells fill as a series from Monday to Friday.

Adjust Column Width

Some of the entries in column B are too long to fit in the column. You can quickly adjust the column width to fit the longest entry.

1. Move your mouse pointer over the line that separates column B and C. The Width Indicator appears.

2. Double-click. The Column adjusts to fit the longest entry.

After you complete the remainder of the exercise, your worksheet will look like the one shown here.

Fill Times

The following demonstrates filling time:

1. Type 1:00 into cell C1.
2. Grab the fill handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells C1 to C14. Note that each cell fills, using military time.
3. Press Esc and then click anywhere on the worksheet to remove the highlighting.

To change the format of the time:

1. Select cells C1 to C14.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the number format box . A menu appears.
4. Click Time. Excel changes the format of the time.

Fill Numbers

You can also fill numbers.

Type a 1 in cell D1.

1. Grab the fill handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells D1 to D14. The number 1 fills each cell.
2. Click the Auto Fill Options button.
3. Choose the Fill Series radio button. The cells fill as a series, starting with 1, 2, 3.

Here is another interesting fill feature.

1. Go to cell E1.
2. Type Lesson 1.
3. Grab the fill handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells E1 to E14. The cells fill in as a series: Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, and so on.

Create Headers and Footers

You can use the Header & Footer button on the Insert tab to create headers and footers. A header is text that appears at the top of every page of your printed worksheet. A footer is text that appears at the bottom of every page of your printed worksheet. When you click the Header & Footer button, the Design context tab appears and Excel changes to Page Layout view. A context tab is a tab that only appears when you need it. Page Layout view structures your worksheet so that you can easily change the format of your document. You usually work in Normal view.

You can type in your header or footer or you can use predefined headers and footers. To find predefined headers and footers, click the Header or Footer button or use the Header & Footer Elements group's buttons. When you choose a header or footer by clicking the Header or Footer button, Excel centers your choice. The table shown here describes each of the Header & Footer Elements group button options.

Header & Footer Elements
Button	Purpose
Page Number	Inserts the page number.
Number of Pages	Inserts the number of pages in the document.
Current Time	Inserts the current time.
File Path	Inserts the path to the document.
File Name	Inserts the file name.
Sheet Name	Inserts the name of the worksheet.
Picture	Enables you to insert a picture.

Both the header and footer areas are divided into three sections: left, right, and center. When you choose a Header or Footer from the Header & Footer Elements group, where you place your information determines whether it appears on the left, right, or center of the printed page. You use the Go To Header and Go To Footer buttons on the Design tab to move between the header and footer areas of your worksheet.

Insert Headers and Footers

1. Choose the Insert tab.
2. Click the Header & Footer button in the Text group. Your worksheet changes to Page Layout view and the Design context tab appears. Note that your cursor is located in the center section of the header area.

3. Click the right side of the header area.
4. Click Page Number in the Header & Footer Elements group. When you print your document, Excel will place the page number in the upper-right corner.
5. Click the left side of the Header area.
6. Type your name. When you print your document, Excel will place your name in the upper-left corner.
7. Click the Go To Footer button. Excel moves to the footer area.

8. Click the Footer button. A menu appears.
9. Click the path to your document. Excel will place the path to your document at the bottom of every printed page.

Return to Normal View

To return to Normal view:

1. Choose the View tab.
2. Click the Normal button in the Workbook Views group.

Set Print Options

There are many print options. You set print options on the Page Layout tab. Among other things, you can set your margins, set your page orientation, and select your paper size.

Margins define the amount of white space that appears on the top, bottom, left, and right edges of your document. The Margin option on the Page Layout tab provides several standard margin sizes from which you can choose.

There are two page orientations: portrait and landscape. Paper, such as paper sized 8 1/2 by 11, is longer on one edge than it is on the other. If you print in Portrait, the shortest edge of the paper becomes the top of the page. Portrait is the default option. If you print in Landscape, the longest edge of the paper becomes the top of the page.

Portrait

Landscape

Paper comes in a variety of sizes. Most business correspondence uses 8 1/2 by 11 paper, which is the default page size in Excel. If you are not using 8 1/2 by 11 paper, you can use the Size option on the Page Layout tab to change the Size setting.

Set the Page Layout

1. Choose the Page Layout tab.
2. Click Margins in the Page Setup group. A menu appears.
3. Click Wide. Word sets your margins to the Wide settings.

Set the Page Orientation

1. Choose the Page Layout tab.
2. Click Orientation in the Page Setup group. A menu appears.
3. Click Landscape. Excel sets your page orientation to landscape.

Set the Paper Size

1. Choose the Page Layout tab.
2. Click Size in the Page Setup group. A menu appears.
3. Click the paper size you are using. Excel sets your page size.

Print

The simplest way to print is to click the Office button, highlight Print on the menu that appears, and then click Quick Print in the Preview and Print the Document pane. Dotted lines appear on your screen, and your document prints. The dotted lines indicate the right, left, top, and bottom edges of your printed pages.

You can also use the Print Preview option to print. When using Print Preview, you can see onscreen how your printed document will look when you print it. If you click the Page Setup button while in Print Preview mode, you can set page settings such as centering your data on the page.

If your document is several pages long, you can use the Next Page and Previous Page buttons to move forward and backward through your document. If you check the Show Margins check box, you will see margin lines on your document. You can click and drag the margin markers to increase or decrease the size of your margins. To return to Excel, click the Close Print Preview button.

You click the Print button when you are ready to print. The Print dialog box appears. You can choose to print the entire worksheet or specific pages. If you want to print specific pages, enter the page numbers in the From and To fields. You can enter the number of copies you want to print in the Number of Copies field.

Open Print Preview

1. Click the Office button. A menu appears.
2. Highlight Print. The Preview and Print The Document pane appears.
3. Click Print Preview. The Print Preview window appears, with your document in the center.

Center Your Document

1. Click the Page Setup button in the Print group. The Page Setup dialog box appears.
2. Choose the Margins tab.
3. Click the Horizontally check box. Excel centers your data horizontally.
4. Click the Vertically check box. Excel centers your data vertically.
5. Click OK. The Page Setup dialog box closes.

Print

1. Click the Print button. The Print dialog box appears.
2. Click the down arrow next to the name field and select the printer to which you want to print.
3. Click OK. Excel sends your worksheet to the printer.

Lesson 4: Creating Charts

In Microsoft Excel, you can represent numbers in a chart. On the Insert tab, you can choose from a variety of chart types, including column, line, pie, bar, area, and scatter. The basic procedure for creating a chart is the same no matter what type of chart you choose. As you change your data, your chart will automatically update.

You select a chart type by choosing an option from the Insert tab's Chart group. After you choose a chart type, such as column, line, or bar, you choose a chart sub-type. For example, after you choose Column Chart, you can choose to have your chart represented as a two-dimensional chart, a three-dimensional chart, a cylinder chart, a cone chart, or a pyramid chart. There are further sub-types within each of these categories. As you roll your mouse pointer over each option, Excel supplies a brief description of each chart sub-type.

Create a Chart

To create the column chart shown above, start by creating the worksheet below exactly as shown.

After you have created the worksheet, you are ready to create your chart.

Create a Column Chart

.

1. Select cells A3 to D6. You must select all the cells containing the data you want in your chart. You should also include the data labels.
2. Choose the Insert tab.
3. Click the Column button in the Charts group. A list of column chart sub-types types appears.
4. Click the Clustered Column chart sub-type. Excel creates a Clustered Column chart and the Chart Tools context tabs appear.

Apply a Chart Layout

Context tabs are tabs that only appear when you need them. Called Chart Tools, there are three chart context tabs: Design, Layout, and Format. The tabs become available when you create a new chart or when you click on a chart. You can use these tabs to customize your chart.

You can determine what your chart displays by choosing a layout. For example, the layout you choose determines whether your chart displays a title, where the title displays, whether your chart has a legend, where the legend displays, whether the chart has axis labels and so on. Excel provides several layouts from which you can choose.

Apply a Chart Layout

1. Click your chart. The Chart Tools become available.
2. Choose the Design tab.
3. Click the Quick Layout button in the Chart Layout group. A list of chart layouts appears.
4. Click Layout 5. Excel applies the layout to your chart.

Add Labels

When you apply a layout, Excel may create areas where you can insert labels. You use labels to give your chart a title or to label your axes. When you applied layout 5, Excel created label areas for a title and for the vertical axis.

Add labels

1. Select Chart Title. Click on Chart Title and then place your cursor before the C in Chart and hold down the Shift key while you use the right arrow key to highlight the words Chart Title.
2. Type Toy Sales. Excel adds your title.
3. Select Axis Title. Click on Axis Title. Place your cursor before the A in Axis. Hold down the Shift key while you use the right arrow key to highlight the words Axis Title.
4. Type Sales. Excel labels the axis.
5. Click anywhere on the chart to end your entry.

Switch Data

If you want to change what displays in your chart, you can switch from row data to column data and vice versa.

Switch Data

1. Click your chart. The Chart Tools become available.
2. Choose the Design tab.
3. Click the Switch Row/Column button in the Data group. Excel changes the data in your chart.

Change the Style of a Chart

A style is a set of formatting options. You can use a style to change the color and format of your chart. Excel 2007 has several predefined styles that you can use. They are numbered from left to right, starting with 1, which is located in the upper-left corner.

Change the Style of a Chart

1. Click your chart. The Chart Tools become available.
2. Choose the Design tab.
3. Click the More button in the Chart Styles group. The chart styles appear.

4. Click Style 42. Excel applies the style to your chart.

Change the Size and Position of a Chart

When you click a chart, handles appear on the right and left sides, the top and bottom, and the corners of the chart. You can drag the handles on the top and bottom of the chart to increase or decrease the height of the chart. You can drag the handles on the left and right sides to increase or decrease the width of the chart. You can drag the handles on the corners to increase or decrease the size of the chart proportionally. You can change the position of a chart by clicking on an unused area of the chart and dragging.

Change the Size and Position of a Chart

1. Use the handles to adjust the size of your chart.
2. Click an unused portion of the chart and drag to position the chart beside the data.

Move a Chart to a Chart Sheet

By default, when you create a chart, Excel embeds the chart in the active worksheet. However, you can move a chart to another worksheet or to a chart sheet. A chart sheet is a sheet dedicated to a particular chart. By default Excel names each chart sheet sequentially, starting with Chart1. You can change the name.

Move a Chart to a Chart Sheet

1. Click your chart. The Chart Tools become available.
2. Choose the Design tab.
3. Click the Move Chart button in the Location group. The Move Chart dialog box appears.

4. Click the New Sheet radio button.
5. Type Toy Sales to name the chart sheet. Excel creates a chart sheet named Toy Sales and places your chart on it.

Change the Chart Type

Any change you can make to a chart that is embedded in a worksheet, you can also make to a chart sheet. For example, you can change the chart type from a column chart to a bar chart.

Change the Chart Type

1. Click your chart. The Chart Tools become available.
2. Choose the Design tab.
3. Click Change Chart Type in the Type group. The Chart Type dialog box appears.
4. Click Bar.
5. Click Clustered Horizontal Cylinder.
6. Click OK. Excel changes your chart type.

PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is included in the standard Office suite along with Microsoft Word and Excel. The software allows users to create anything from basic slide shows to complex presentations.

PowerPoint is often used to create business presentations, but can also be used for educational or informal purposes. The presentations are comprised of slides, which may contain text, images, and other media, such as audio clips and movies. Sound effects and animated transitions can also be included to add extra appeal to the presentation. However, overusing sound effects and transitions will probably do more to annoy your audience than draw their attention. (Yes, we have all heard the car screeching noise enough times for one lifetime.)

Most PowerPoint presentations are created from a template, which includes a background color or image, a standard font, and a choice of several slide layouts. Changes to the template can be saved to a "master slide," which stores the main slide theme used in the presentation. When changes are made to the master slide, such as choosing a new background image, the changes are propagated to all the other slides. This keeps a uniform look among all the slides in the presentation.

When presenting a PowerPoint presentation, the presenter may choose to have the slides change at preset intervals or may decide to control the flow manually. This can be done using the mouse, keyboard, or a remote control. The flow of the presentation can be further customized by having slides load completely or one bullet at a time. For example, if the presenter has several bullet points on a page, he might have individual points appear when he clicks the mouse. This allows more interactivity with the audience and brings greater focus to each point.

PowerPoint presentations can be created and viewed using Microsoft PowerPoint. They can also be imported and exported with Apple Keynote, Apple's presentation program for the Macintosh platform. Since most people prefer not to watch presentations on a laptop, PowerPoint presentations are often displayed using a projector. Therefore, if you are preparing a PowerPoint presentation for a room full of people, just make sure you have the correct video adapter.

Internet

You can also read this history in a Belorussion translation by Bohdan Zograf.

The Internet was the result of some visionary thinking by people in the early 1960s who saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific and military fields. J.C.R. Licklider of MIT, first proposed a global network of computers in 1962, and moved over to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in late 1962 to head the work to develop it. Leonard Kleinrock of MIT and later UCLA developed the theory of packet switching, which was to form the basis of Internet connections. Lawrence Roberts of MIT connected a Massachusetts computer with a California computer in 1965 over dial-up telephone lines. It showed the feasibility of wide area networking, but also showed that the telephone line's circuit switching was inadequate. Kleinrock's packet switching theory was confirmed. Roberts moved over to DARPA in 1966 and developed his plan for ARPANET. These visionaries and many more left unnamed here are the real founders of the Internet.When the late Senator Ted Kennedy heard in 1968 that the pioneering Massachusetts company BBN had won the ARPA contract for an "interface message processor (IMP)," he sent a congratulatory telegram to BBN for their ecumenical spirit in winning the "interfaith message processor" contract.The Internet, then known as ARPANET, was brought online in 1969 under a contract let by the renamed Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which initially connected four major computers at universities in the southwestern US (UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UCSB, and the University of Utah). The contract was carried out by BBN of Cambridge, MA under Bob Kahn and went online in December 1969. By June 1970, MIT, Harvard, BBN, and Systems Development Corp (SDC) in Santa Monica, Cal. were added. By January 1971, Stanford, MIT's Lincoln Labs, Carnegie-Mellon, and Case-Western Reserve U were added. In months to come, NASA/Ames, Mitre, Burroughs, RAND, and the U of Illinois plugged in. After that, there were far too many to keep listing here.

Who was the first to use the Internet?

Charley Kline at UCLA sent the first packets on ARPANet as he tried to connect to Stanford Research Institute on Oct 29, 1969. The system crashed as he reached the G in LOGIN!

The Internet was designed in part to provide a communications network that would work even if some of the sites were destroyed by nuclear attack. If the most direct route was not available, routers would direct traffic around the network via alternate routes.

The early Internet was used by computer experts, engineers, scientists, and librarians. There was nothing friendly about it. There were no home or office personal computers in those days, and anyone who used it, whether a computer professional or an engineer or scientist or librarian, had to learn to use a very complex system.

Did Al Gore invent the Internet?

According to a CNN transcript of an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Al Gore said,"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Al Gore was not yet in Congress in 1969 when ARPANET started or in 1974 when the term Internet first came into use. Gore was elected to Congress in 1976. In fairness, Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf acknowledge in a paper titled Al Gore and the Internet that Gore has probably done more than any other elected official to support the growth and development of the Internet from the 1970's to the present .E-mail was adapted for ARPANET by Ray Tomlinson of BBN in 1972. He picked the @ symbol from the available symbols on his teletype to link the username and address. The telnet protocol, enabling logging on to a remote computer, was published as a Request for Comments (RFC) in 1972. RFC's are a means of sharing developmental work throughout community. The ftp protocol, enabling file transfers between Internet sites, was published as an RFC in 1973, and from then on RFC's were available electronically to anyone who had use of the ftp protocol. Libraries began automating and networking their catalogs in the late 1960s independent from ARPA. The visionary Frederick G. Kilgour of the Ohio College Library Center (now OCLC, Inc.) led networking of Ohio libraries during the '60s and '70s. In the mid 1970s more regional consortia from New England, the Southwest states, and the Middle Atlantic states, etc., joined with Ohio to form a national, later international, network. Automated catalogs, not very user-friendly at first, became available to the world, first through telnet or the awkward IBM variant TN3270 and only many years later, through the web. See The History of OCLC. Ethernet, a protocol for many local networks, appeared in 1974, an outgrowth of Harvard student Bob Metcalfe's dissertation on "Packet Networks." The dissertation was initially rejected by the University for not being analytical enough. It later won acceptance when he added some more equations to it.The Internet matured in the 70's as a result of the TCP/IP architecture first proposed by Bob Kahn at BBN and further developed by Kahn and Vint Cerf at Stanford and others throughout the 70's. It was adopted by the Defense Department in 1980 replacing the earlier Network Control Protocol (NCP) and universally adopted by 1983.

The Unix to Unix Copy Protocol (UUCP) was invented in 1978 at Bell Labs. Usenet was started in 1979 based on UUCP. Newsgroups, which are discussion groups focusing on a topic, followed, providing a means of exchanging information throughout the world . While Usenet is not considered as part of the Internet, since it does not share the use of TCP/IP, it linked unix systems around the world, and many Internet sites took advantage of the availability of newsgroups. It was a significant part of the community building that took place on the networks.

Similarly, BITNET (Because It's Time Network) connected IBM mainframes around the educational community and the world to provide mail services beginning in 1981. Listserv software was developed for this network and later others. Gateways were developed to connect BITNET with the Internet and allowed exchange of e-mail, particularly for e-mail discussion lists. These listservs and other forms of e-mail discussion lists formed another major element in the community building that was taking place.

In 1986, the National Science Foundation funded NSFNet as a cross country 56 Kbps backbone for the Internet. They maintained their sponsorship for nearly a decade, setting rules for its non-commercial government and research uses. As the commands for e-mail, FTP, and telnet were standardized, it became a lot easier for non-technical people to learn to use the nets. It was not easy by today's standards by any means, but it did open up use of the Internet to many more people in universities in particular. Other departments besides the libraries, computer, physics, and engineering departments found ways to make good use of the nets--to communicate with colleagues around the world and to share files and resources.

While the number of sites on the Internet was small, it was fairly easy to keep track of the resources of interest that were available. But as more and more universities and organizations--and their libraries-- connected, the Internet became harder and harder to track. There was more and more need for tools to index the resources that were available.

The first effort, other than library catalogs, to index the Internet was created in 1989, as Peter Deutsch and his crew at McGill University in Montreal, created an archiver for ftp sites, which they named Archie. This software would periodically reach out to all known openly available ftp sites, list their files, and build a searchable index of the software. The commands to search Archie were unix commands, and it took some knowledge of unix to use it to its full capability.

McGill University, which hosted the first Archie, found out one day that half the Internet traffic going into Canada from the United States was accessing Archie. Administrators were concerned that the University was subsidizing such a volume of traffic, and closed down Archie to outside access. Fortunately, by that time, there were many more Archies available.

At about the same time, Brewster Kahle, then at Thinking Machines, Corp. developed his Wide Area Information Server (WAIS), which would index the full text of files in a database and allow searches of the files. There were several versions with varying degrees of complexity and capability developed, but the simplest of these were made available to everyone on the nets. At its peak, Thinking Machines maintained pointers to over 600 databases around the world which had been indexed by WAIS. They included such things as the full set of Usenet Frequently Asked Questions files, the full documentation of working papers such as RFC's by those developing the Internet's standards, and much more. Like Archie, its interface was far from intuitive, and it took some effort to learn to use it well.

Peter Scott of the University of Saskatchewan, recognizing the need to bring together information about all the telnet-accessible library catalogs on the web, as well as other telnet resources, brought out his Hytelnet catalog in 1990. It gave a single place to get information about library catalogs and other telnet resources and how to use them. He maintained it for years, and added HyWebCat in 1997 to provide information on web-based catalogs.

In 1991, the first really friendly interface to the Internet was developed at the University of Minnesota. The University wanted to develop a simple menu system to access files and information on campus through their local network. A debate followed between mainframe adherents and those who believed in smaller systems with client-server architecture. The mainframe adherents "won" the debate initially, but since the client-server advocates said they could put up a prototype very quickly, they were given the go-ahead to do a demonstration system. The demonstration system was called a gopher after the U of Minnesota mascot--the golden gopher. The gopher proved to be very prolific, and within a few years there were over 10,000 gophers around the world. It takes no knowledge of unix or computer architecture to use. In a gopher system, you type or click on a number to select the menu selection you want.

Gopher's usability was enhanced much more when the University of Nevada at Reno developed the VERONICA searchable index of gopher menus. It was purported to be an acronym for Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Netwide Index to Computerized Archives. A spider crawled gopher menus around the world, collecting links and retrieving them for the index. It was so popular that it was very hard to connect to, even though a number of other VERONICA sites were developed to ease the load. Similar indexing software was developed for single sites, called JUGHEAD (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And Display).

Peter Deutsch, who developed Archie, always insisted that Archie was short for Archiver, and had nothing to do with the comic strip. He was disgusted when VERONICA and JUGHEAD appeared.In 1989 another significant event took place in making the nets easier to use. Tim Berners-Lee and others at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, more popularly known as CERN, proposed a new protocol for information distribution. This protocol, which became the World Wide Web in 1991, was based on hypertext--a system of embedding links in text to link to other text, which you have been using every time you selected a text link while reading these pages. Although started before gopher, it was slower to develop. The development in 1993 of the graphical browser Mosaic by Marc Andreessen and his team at the National Center For Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) gave the protocol its big boost. Later, Andreessen moved to become the brains behind Netscape Corp., which produced the most successful graphical type of browser and server until Microsoft declared war and developed its MicroSoft Internet Explorer.

 

MICHAEL DERTOUZOS
1936-2001

The early days of the web was a confused period as many developers tried to put their personal stamp on ways the web should develop. The web was threatened with becoming a mass of unrelated protocols that would require different software for different applications. The visionary Michael Dertouzos of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Sciences persuaded Tim Berners-Lee and others to form the World Wide Web Consortium in 1994 to promote and develop standards for the Web. Proprietary plug-ins still abound for the web, but the Consortium has ensured that there are common standards present in every browser.

Read Tim Berners-Lee's tribute to Michael Dertouzos.

Since the Internet was initially funded by the government, it was originally limited to research, education, and government uses. Commercial uses were prohibited unless they directly served the goals of research and education. This policy continued until the early 90's, when independent commercial networks began to grow. It then became possible to route traffic across the country from one commercial site to another without passing through the government funded NSFNet Internet backbone.

Delphi was the first national commercial online service to offer Internet access to its subscribers. It opened up an email connection in July 1992 and full Internet service in November 1992. All pretenses of limitations on commercial use disappeared in May 1995 when the National Science Foundation ended its sponsorship of the Internet backbone, and all traffic relied on commercial networks. AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe came online. Since commercial usage was so widespread by this time and educational institutions had been paying their own way for some time, the loss of NSF funding had no appreciable effect on costs.

Today, NSF funding has moved beyond supporting the backbone and higher educational institutions to building the K-12 and local public library accesses on the one hand, and the research on the massive high volume connections on the other.

Microsoft's full scale entry into the browser, server, and Internet Service Provider market completed the major shift over to a commercially based Internet. The release of Windows 98 in June 1998 with the Microsoft browser well integrated into the desktop shows Bill Gates' determination to capitalize on the enormous growth of the Internet. Microsoft's success over the past few years has brought court challenges to their dominance. We'll leave it up to you whether you think these battles should be played out in the courts or the marketplace.

During this period of enormous growth, businesses entering the Internet arena scrambled to find economic models that work. Free services supported by advertising shifted some of the direct costs away from the consumer--temporarily. Services such as Delphi offered free web pages, chat rooms, and message boards for community building. Online sales have grown rapidly for such products as books and music CDs and computers, but the profit margins are slim when price comparisons are so easy, and public trust in online security is still shaky. Business models that have worked well are portal sites, that try to provide everything for everybody, and live auctions. AOL's acquisition of Time-Warner was the largest merger in history when it took place and shows the enormous growth of Internet business! The stock market has had a rocky ride, swooping up and down as the new technology companies, the dot.com's encountered good news and bad. The decline in advertising income spelled doom for many dot.coms, and a major shakeout and search for better business models took place by the survivors.

A current trend with major implications for the future is the growth of high speed connections. 56K modems and the providers who supported them spread widely for a while, but this is the low end now. 56K is not fast enough to carry multimedia, such as sound and video except in low quality. But new technologies many times faster, such as cablemodems and digital subscriber lines (DSL) are predominant now.

Wireless has grown rapidly in the past few years, and travellers search for the wi-fi "hot spots" where they can connect while they are away from the home or office. Many airports, coffee bars, hotels and motels now routinely provide these services, some for a fee and some for free.

A next big growth area is the surge towards universal wireless access, where almost everywhere is a "hot spot". Municipal wi-fi or city-wide access, wiMAX offering broader ranges than wi-fi, EV-DO, 4g, and other formats will joust for dominance in the USA in the years ahead. The battle is both economic and political.

Another trend that is rapidly affecting web designers is the growth of smaller devices to connect to the Internet. Small tablets, pocket PCs, smart phones, ebooks, game machines, and even GPS devices are now capable of tapping into the web on the go, and many web pages are not designed to work on that scale.

As the Internet has become ubiquitous, faster, and increasingly accessible to non-technical communities, social networking and collaborative services have grown rapidly, enabling people to communicate and share interests in many more ways. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, YouTube, Flickr, Second Life, delicious, blogs, wikis, and many more let people of all ages rapidly share their interests of the moment with others everywhere.

 

The Internet Concept

Internet can be termed as the interconnection of the variety of networks and computers. Internet makes use of the internet protocol and the transmission Control protocol. Internet opened the doors of communication between the various stations. Internet facilitates storing and transmission of large volumes of data. The internet is one of the most powerful communication tools today. 

In the 1990’s internet gained popularity in the masses. People started becoming aware of the uses of internet. Internet helped the people to organize their information and files in a systematic order. Various researches were conducted on internet. Gopher was the first frequently used hypertext interface.

In 1991, a network based implementation with respect to the hypertext was made. The technology was inspired by many people. With the advent of the World Wide Web search engine the popularity of internet grew on an extensive scale. Today, the usage of internet is seen in science, commerce and nearly all the fields

There are various ways and means to access the internet. With the advancement in technology people can now access internet services through their cell phones, play stations and various gadgets. There are large numbers of internet service providers as well.

With the development and the wide spread application of internet electronic mail people from all across the globe come together and communication has become much easier than ever before. Messages, in the form of Emails could be send in at any corner of the world within fractions of seconds. Emails also facilitated mass communication (one sender many receivers).

Emails, video conferencing, live telecast, music, news, e-commerce are some of the services made available due to internet.  Entertainment has taken new dimensions with the increase of internet and all we see it's a continous development and transformation.

 

Web 2.0 (or Web 2)

Web 2.0 (or Web 2) is the popular term for advanced Internet technology and applications including blogs, wikis, RSS and social bookmarking. The two major components of Web 2.0 are the technological advances enabled by Ajax and other new applications such as RSS and Eclipse and the user empowerment that they support.

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Tim O'Reilly is generally credited with inventing the term, following a conference dealing with next-generation Web concepts and issues held by O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International in 2004. O'Reilly Media has subsequently been energetic about trying to copyright "Web 2.0" and holds an annual conference of the same name. There is, however, some dispute about whether O'Reilly is responsible for the original coinage. Joe Firmage, for instance, used Web 2.0 to describe using the World Wide Web as a platform in 2003.

One of the most significant differences between Web 2.0 and the traditional World Wide Web (retroactively referred to as Web 1.0) is greater collaboration among Internet users and other users, content providers, and enterprises.

Originally, data was posted on Web sites, and users simply viewed or downloaded the content. Increasingly, users have more input into the nature and scope of Web content and in some cases exert real-time control over it. For example, multiple-vendor online book outlets such as BookFinder4U make it possible for users to upload book reviews as well as find rare and out-of-print books at a minimum price, and dynamic encyclopedias such as Wikipedia allow users to create and edit the content of a worldwide information database in multiple languages. Internet forums have become more extensive and led to the proliferation of blogging. The dissemination of news evolved into RSS.

There is no clear-cut demarcation between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 technologies, hardware and applications. The distinction is, to a large extent, subjective. Here are a few characteristics often noted as descriptive of Web 2.0:

    blogging

    Ajax and other new technologies

    Google Base and other free Web services

    RSS-generated syndication

    social bookmarking

    mash-ups

    wikis and other collaborative applications

    dynamic as opposed to static site content

    interactive encyclopedias and dictionaries

    ease of data creation, modification or deletion by individual users

    advanced gaming.

Critics of Web 2.0 maintain that it makes it too easy for the average person to affect online content and that, as a result, the credibility, ethics and even legality of Web content could suffer. Defenders of Web 2.0 point out that these problems have existed ever since the infancy of the medium and that the alternative -- widespread censorship based on ill-defined elitism -- would be far worse. The final judgment concerning any Web content, say the defenders, should be made by end users alone. Web 2.0 reflects evolution in that direction.

Some industry pundits are already claiming that Web 2.0 is merely a transitional phase between the early days of the World Wide Web's existence and a more established phase they're calling Web 3.0.

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