3.3.10 Paint

Paint is a drawing tool you can use to create black and white or color drawings that you can save as bitmap files.

To open an accessory, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click the appropriate icon.

For information about using Paint, click the Help menu in Paint.

3.3.11 WordPad

WordPad lets you create more complex documents, giving you most of the capability of a word processor. You can change the font for the entire document or just a word within it. With the click of a button, you can insert bullets into text in WordPad or align a paragraph to the right or left. All of this formatting is saved with your document, so no matter who opens it, it will appear as you created it.

Your word processor will provide even more text formatting options, such as automatically numbering lines of text, specifying columns, or inserting frames.

Tables

If you plan to use tables in your file, you should probably create the document using a word processor. You can set up a table in a Notepad or a WordPad document, but you must count characters or insert tabs to align the columns. Most word processors will separate the columns and rows and automatically wrap text within columns for you.

Graphics

Notepad does not support graphics. You can insert graphics into a WordPad document and modify them by linking or embedding them in your document. Almost all word processors provide graphics support.

Page setup

Basic page setup is available with both Notepad and WordPad. You can set margins, add headers and footers, and orient your documents to print either vertically or horizontally. Your word processor may offer more options.

Large documents

The more elaborate the document, the longer it will take to open and modify. Notepad and WordPad are both compact programs that start and open files quickly, best used with smaller files.

Word processors are intended for larger, more elaborate documents. A word processor gives you more control over your documents than Notepad or WordPad does. Often you can add footnotes, annotations, and even generate a table of contents for your documents. Many word processors offer macros and templates to help you automate repetitive tasks, such as typing your name or formatting headings. Usually word processors will automatically check the spelling and grammar in your document.

Cross-Platform Support

Notepad is a basic text editor that is most commonly used to view or edit .txt files, such as the Readme.txt files provided with your Windows 2000 software. Text-only files are critical if you share documents with someone using another platform like Macintosh or UNIX. WordPad also lets you save your files as a Word document, so you can modify files created in Word even if you don't have the program yourself.

Multiple Languages

WordPad and Notepad let you save your files in different formats, such as Unicode, providing you greater flexibility when working with documents that use different character sets or documents created by other programs.

Most word processors also allow you to save your files in a variety of formats. Some provide support for multiple languages, even including several dictionaries for spell checking. In WordPad, documents that use multiple languages should be saved as rich text files (.rtf is the file extension of a document saved as a rich text file).

HTML and Web pages

As more people use HTML to create Web pages or other documents, many find Notepad a simple tool for writing in HTML. Because Notepad supports only very basic formatting, you cannot accidentally save special formatting in documents that need to remain pure text. This is especially useful when creating HTML documents for a Web page because special characters or other formatting may not appear in your published Web page or may even cause errors.

Many word processors provide plug-ins or converters to help you create HTML documents. But, if you are creating simple pages or if you want to make a few quick changes, Notepad opens files quickly. Also, Notepad shows the entire HTML tagging so you can troubleshoot your page. Not all word processors or converters make the HTML code available.

If you only need to create simple documents, Notepad is your best choice. Click here to open Notepad. You would need to use WordPad or another word processor for anything more complicated. Click here to open WordPad.