Documenting a Day
For this week’s assignment, we had to document a typical day in three different programs: Word Processor, Excel Spreadsheet and PowerPoint. Each program has similar functions and capabilities such as, fonts options, text sizes, bullets and indent options. As similar as these programs are in functionality, I can see why people might prefer one over the other.
Journaling a day in my life in the word processor allowed me to provide as much or as little detail as I wanted. As I was documenting my day, I had the ability to include how I might have felt during a task or how my day was going at a certain point. Also, instead of writing down my day-to-day task in one big paragraph, I was able to provide bullet points to list out my tasks at work and at home.
On the excel spreadsheet I was able to list my task out and calculate how much time, on average I spent on those tasks. In the spreadsheet, though I was able to add as much detail as I wanted, it wouldn’t have made sense to do so. Excel is the program one would use to organize task, timing, and calculate with little to no detail of what the task pertains to. This would be the ideal program to create a database, track, and manager. It is straight to the point and logical.
The PowerPoint, in my opinion combines the characteristics of both a word processor and an excel spreadsheet. The PowerPoint allows you to add images and graphics to your tasks and bullet point to adds a visual. The notes allow you to go into detail for your presentation; however, on the slide itself, you don’t want to go into too much detail. One would use PowerPoint to create a series of slides with text and visual representation to demonstrate their point.
In conclusion, as similar as these programs are, and as similar as their capabilities are, each would be a better fit depending on what the user is trying to do. If the user wanted to write a story or an essay with as much detail as possible, word processor is the ideal program. If someone needs an organized list and calculate time, create a graph based on calculations, then excel would be the best program for the user. PowerPoint is the program that combines both the characteristics of a word processor and an excel spreadsheet. These features are inserted into a presentation that would use visuals to display the creator’s ideas more succinctly.
