Operations and Google Docs

Operations

What are operations?

Operations can be thought of actions that can be performed on a computer. Things such as saving a document, copying some text, or changing the font size are all operations.

Google Docs

Why Google Docs?

It is important to know how to change text and other data in files. Google docs is a free online document editor that allows people to create and edit documents.

What can we learn using Google Docs?

We can learn basic file manipulation such as opening, closing, and saving files. Along with text manipulation such as: copy, cut, paste, find, replace, and formatting.

How to get to Google Docs

Click on the icon for an internet browser (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox)
Type docs.google.com in the internet browser search bar and press enter
Sign in to google or create an account. For help with this see the accounts page or your instructor.

Opening and closing documents

To open a document simply navigate to docs.google.com. You should see a list of recent documents if you've used it before, and if not, there is a "Start a new document" section on top where you can start a new blank document, or select a template.

To close the document, you can simply close the page, or - if you want to go back to the Google Docs homepage - click on the blue paper icon in the top left corner of the page.

Saving your work

In Google Docs, your work is saved automatically. This feature is not on most editors, so be careful! In other programs like Microsoft Word, you may have to go to File > Save, or click on the floppy disk icon to save your work. If you close out of a program that does not autosave, you will loose any work you have done since the last time clicking save.

Selecting and moving text

Select

You'll want to select text to perform operations on things you may have already typed. To select text, simply click on either the beginning or end of the text you want to select, and drag your mouse across it until everything you wanted to select is highlighted.

Note: If you are trying to perform operations on a single item, like an image, you do not have to select it. You should be able to perform operations by clicking directly on it.

Paste

Paste is used when you want to put an item or a selection somewhere in a file. To use paste, you'll need to copy or cut something first (see below).

To paste, right click on your selection or item and click paste.

Copy

Copying is an operation that makes a copy of your selection or item. This is useful for when you need to type similar things multiple times. For example, since the instructions for copy, cut, and paste are very similar - I copied the next sentence from here, and pasted it into the end of "cut" and "paste", so i'd only have to change two words instead of writing the entire sentence again.

To copy, right click on your selection or item and click copy.

Cut

Cut is very similar to copy, but instead of leaving the thing you're trying to paste, cut removes it. This is handy for when you want to move something entirely.

To cut, right click on your selection or item and click cut.

Delete

Delete is an operation used when you want to completely remove something. It gets rid of the selection or item permanently.

To delete, right click on your selection and press delete. You may also press delete ore backspace on your keyboard.

Formatting text

Headings

Headings are used to display titles for pages and sections. Generally, a page will have a big heading, a section will have a smaller one, and a sub-section will have a smaller one still. For example, check out the different headings on this page, from "Google Docs" to "Formatting text" to "Headings".

Fonts

Fonts can be used to give the reader a certain emotion. There are big, bold fonts, and small skinny ones. You can try out different fonts on Google Docs.

Bold

Bold on websites is usually used as a type of inline-heading. If you introduce a new word, you can make it bold to bring attention to it.

Italics

Italics are another way of bringing attention to a certain word or phrase. Italics can be used when something is new or important, to make sure your readers don't miss it.

Size

The size of your text can be used to differentiate different areas. Headings are usually larger, but you can also have parts with little text, usually for notes and items that are not that important.

This is an example of some small text.

Colors

Colors can be used just to make your text look good, or they can be used with purpose. A section of red text may indicate something went wrong, whereas a section of green text may indicate a success message.

Concepts like size and color not only apply to text, but to the rest of the items on your site. Check out the aesthetics page to learn more.

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