Beyond BIU: Designing Documents with

Microsoft Word

B I U or bold, italic, underline are the three formatting tags most often associated
with Microsoft Word. At one time, these styles were the main thing to use in
order to highlight text, format information and design Word documents. Today
Microsoft Word is a sophisticated piece of desktop publishing software with a
variety of different tools and resources. With a little inspiration and a few quick
tips the designs one can achieve with Microsoft Word are only limited by the
imagination.

10 Ideas for Designing Documents with Microsoft Word

1. Draw Tool Bar

The Draw Tool bar is for much more than drawing shapes on a
Word document. Many of the draw tools can be used to organize
and format information. In addition, many of the objects you can
draw can also be used to hold text.
This object was created using the rectangle tool. Then text
was added using the text box tool. Finally a 3-D effect was
added with the 3-D tool.

• Right clicking on any object will allow you to format that

object. Format options allow you to alter the layout,
change the color and set an exact size.

• Holding the shift key down while you draw an object will
allow you to make the dimensions proportionate.

• The various styles of shadow and 3-D can be applied to

almost any object.

• Objects can also be rotated, moved around the document

and placed under of over text.

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 • Right clicking will also allow you to group multiple objects creating one.

2. Text Boxes
A text box is a movable box that can be positioned Text Boxes allow
anywhere on a Word document. Text and images can
be placed within the box, which can then be used to
you to organize
organize content or to make content stand out. The text content or
box is located on the Draw Tool Bar. highlight
important text.
To create a text box, click on the text box tool, position your curser on the page
and then click – hold and draw. You can now type in your text box by clicking
inside.

Outside text can be wrapped around a text box, by modifying the properties.
Double click on the outside of the text box and select layout from the properties
box to wrap text.

Borders can also be added to a text box to create different effects. Double click
on the outside of the text box and select color and lines.

Text boxes can also be linked together. With linked text boxes, content from one
box would automatically spill into another no matter where it was in a document.

3. Change Text Direction

Direction
Change

The direction of text can be changed to create headlines or emphasize

content. The easiest way to change the direction of text, is to place it in
a text box. Highlight the text in the box, select the Format menu and
select text direction.

4. Borders

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Borders can be applied to text boxes, tables, text and even an entire document.
Choice of borders is actually very varied particularly when one realizes they are
not limited to a standard black solid border.

To format a border for text, highlight text or paragraph, select format, borders
and shading and the border tab. Select the border you would like. To apply a
border to an entire page, select format, borders and shading and then the page
border tab. Select preferred border.

Borders need not completely encircle text. Partial borders can be used to create
margins and lines.

5. Fonts
Not all 12-point
Some words users never give fonts a second thought and fonts are
instead rely on the default Times New Roman font size 12. created equal.
For other fonts are passions and they would no sooner use
Times New Roman than go outside in a pale blue, bell- This is the Times New
bottom polyester pants suit. For the rest of us who fall Roman font.
between the two extremes, fonts can be an excellent way
to easily change the look and feel of a document. This is the Tw Cen
MT font.
There are two things one needs to know in order to truly
start making the best use of fonts. This is the Arial font.
• How to list fonts in their actual font This is the
Select tools and then customize. Click on the options Verdana font.
tab and select list font names in their fonts.
This is the Comic
Set a favorite font as the default
Select format and then fonts. Set to desired font face Sans MS font.
and size, click on default.
This is the
In changing fonts one has the option to Freestyle Script
How font.
change the font face, size and style. In
Small is  
addition, character spacing and text effects
too
can also be added.  
Small?

The style of font you choose can make a big This is the Old
16 difference to how it is read. Serif refers to English Font
Point fonts with little hooks or serifs at the bottom of the character. Sans
14 Point Serif refers to fonts without that little serif or hook. Sans Serif fonts

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are slower to read and work well for text you want someone to linger over such as
a header. Serif fonts are quicker to read and work well for the body of text.

6. Color
If you are sharing a Word document electronically or if
you have a color printer, color can be a great tool for
G r a y
Gray is still a color
highlighting information.
Although not as
flashy as blue or red,
Objects such as shapes, lines and text boxes can be
one should
colored using the shading or fill feature. But for many
remember, that gray
people color is used to highlight text. To change the
color of text, highlight text select format, font and font color. An ample variety of
standard colors are available, but custom colors can also be created.

7. Clip art
Clip art constitutes a variety of different objects. Although most people think of
clip art as delightful little illustrations, in MS Word clip art can also be a
photograph, animation clip or even sound file.

To insert clip art, select insert, picture and then clip art. The
clip art viewer allows you to search through picture, sound
and motion clips. Objects can be browsed or searched for by
keyword.

If your selection for clip art is thin, additional clip art can be
easily be imported. Microsoft features revolving collections of free clip art that
are very easy to import. http://dgl.microsoft.com/

8. AutoShapes
AutoShapes are standard shapes that you can
add anywhere on a Word document. The
shapes can be resized to almost any
dimension and many of them can be
turned into text boxes. AutoShapes are
located on the draw tool bar. Click on
AutoShapes holding the mouse button
down to see a selection of available

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shapes. Once you have found the set of shapes you would like to add, still
holding the mouse button scroll over and click on the shape. Now position your
cursor on the document click and draw the shape while holding the mouse.
Autoshapes can Many autoshapes can also accommodate text. Click on the
also work as text autoshape and then click on text box
boxes.

9. Text Wrapping
Text In Microsoft Word, text can be wrapped around any image, object or
wrapping text box. Wrapping allows you to place objects in a relevant
can also be
used with location, without interfering with the text.

To wrap text around an object right click on the object and select Format object
name. For instance to format a text box you would right click and select format
text box. Following this, select the layout tab and specify wrapping style and
horizontal alignment. Clicking on the advanced button will allow you to have
greater control of wrapping margins, as well as change how the object relates to
text.

10. Add Screen Captures

A screen shot or screen capture is a photo of a desktop screen or window on a
computer. A screen shot can be of a web page, software application or even a
mouse movement. Screen shots are a great way to convey information to
students.

To capture a screen shot on a machine using the Windows operating

system. Press the Print Screen or Print Scrn key on your keyboard
(located in the upper left hand corner of your keyboard to the left of the
function keys). This will take a screen shot of your entire desktop screen.
The size of this image depends on your monitor resolution. Hence if your
monitor resolution is set to 640 x 480 than your image will be 640 x 480.

Because this type of screen shot captures the whole screen, you may get
sections you do not want, such as the task bar or other open windows. To
capture only the active window (window you are currently working in) press
and hold the ALT key and then press Print Screen.

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If you are using a machine with the Macintosh operating system,
simultaneously pressing the Command, Shift, and number 3 keys will
allow you to capture a screen shot.

Once you have captured a screen shot using the keystrokes described
above, the image is now saved on your clipboard. To place a screen shot in
a Word or Microsoft Office application, simply open the document you
would like to place the screen shot in. Select Edit and Paste to place the
image into the file. The image can now be manipulated just like any other
image in these applications.

Notes

Resources
In the Library

Graphic Design Cookbook: mix and match recipes for faster, better layouts
Koren, Leonard & R. Wippo Meckler
SSCC Library Z246.K67 1989

The Non-Designers Type Book: Insights and techniques for creating

professional-level type
Williams, Robin
SSCC Library Z 250.7W55 1998

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 On the Web

Laying Out Technical Documents in Microsoft Word

http://www.research.microsoft.com/users/jckrumm/Word%20Tips/technical
%20publishing.htm

Microsoft Office Assistance Center

http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/

Microsoft Template Gallery

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/templategallery/

Microsoft Design Gallery Live

http://dgl.microsoft.com/

Journalist’s Tool Box

http://www.journaliststoolbox.com

Exercises
Using the tips discussed in this workshop, see if you can recreate the paragraphs
below.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox
jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the
lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox
jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the By Quick B. Fox
lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick
brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The
quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

2002 SSCC Teaching and Learning Center

On the Web at http://dept.seattlecolleges.com/tlc/resources/word.html