Week Two Blog

Lecture: This weeks lecture was based around common computer tasks and the programs available on them. In the lecture we had to name Microsoft programs we knew of as well as search engines available on the internet, from this we learn't that there were many programs and search engines available to us while at university. We were also shown that there is a variety of ways to present assignments and use different programs to analyise statistics etc.

Workshop: In this week's workshop we focused on Microsoft programs Word and Excel, we were shown how to use shortcuts and different tools to our advantage.

Below is a summary of the different things learn't from the different programs:

Microsoft Word:

How to:

• Create line spacing in the document



• Add page numbers as well as headers and footers

• Create a table of contents



• Format paragraphs and set margins

Microsoft Excel:

How to:

• Create a series for example Monday to Sunday

• Create more than one and colour code each sheet



• colour code and adjust the margin of each cell



• Create a sum to help manage expenses

We then had to complete a series of tasks involving the two programs, which were based aroud what we had learnt during the tutorial, these activites could be found on blackboard.

The Microsoft Word activites required us to do as follows:

Step 1: Open a new document

Step 2: Copy and paste text from the activity worksheet
Step 3: Adjust the margins, typeface and line spacing

Step 4: Create a Header and Footer

Step 5: Alphabetize certain references

The Excel tasks required us to do:

Step 1: Create a table following certain instructions

Step 2: Create a pie chart using the data in the table



Step 3: Create a Bar graph representing hours spent on social time



Extra Reading:

Using MS Word for APA tasks:

This document explained how to do the following things:

• Set the TypeFace (font type and size etc.)

• Page setup (margins etc.)

• Page headers and page numbers.

• Line spacing.

• Hyper linking to websites etc.

• Dot leaders for table of contents.

• How to customise the toolbar to your liking.

Graphic Formating:

This document covers the five different types of graphic formats and explain's them in detail.

These formats are:

• Bitmap (.bmp) is the basic image format for PC's, it can be saved as a 1-bit image up to and including 24bit, this number changes how big and how much colour will be in the image

• CompuServe (.gif) supports up to a maximum 256 colours and is best used in HTML documents, it also supports moving images which is an added bonus.

• Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpg) is the most common format used as it retains all the images colour when saved as well as greatly compressing the image increasing file transfer time.

• The Tagged-Image File Format (.tiff) can be read by all PC platforms making it the most flexible format, it also retains all of the images quality even when compressed making it the most used when it comes to professional printing.

• The last format been the photo shop document (.psd, .psp, .spp) is the only format that supports layered imaging as the rest are all flat images, because of this it allows the image to altered greatly.