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Word processing on MSN TV
Letters, cards and more
By Erfert Fenton
These days, I use e-mail to keep in touch with everyone in my family. Everyone except my Aunt Susie, that is. She's 90 years old, and just isn't interested in newfangled technologies like electronic mail. She prefers the old-fashioned kind that's delivered to her mailbox (you know, that metal thing out by the curb).
So how can I keep Aunt Susie in the loop when I type an e-mail to the rest of my family? Well, I have a printer attached to my box, so I could print a copy of the letter for my aunt. But if I do that, unsightly stuff such as the e-mail subject line prints as well. I'd like to be able to print a page that's just text, like a real letter.
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Word processing sites
Imagine how happy I was to discover that there are lots of word processing sites I can use on MSN TV to write letters, create cards, and even make to-do lists. Here are some of the coolest sites I've found. (Note: In order to take advantage of what these sites have to offer, you'll need a printer hooked up to your MSN TV box. To see a list of compatible printers, click here.)
- The fine folks at Draac.com offer a free word processor called MSNTV Word. This handy little application uses HTML (the language that's used to make Web pages) to create a document that you can print. Don't worry — you don't have to know a lick of HTML. MSNTV Word does the dirty work for you; all you have to do is type. (Better yet, you can copy and paste the text from an e-mail you wrote.)
MSNTV Word is the epitome of simplicity. But if you want to get fancy — by adding some bold text or a large title, for example — you can do so by adding your own HTML tags to your text. If you've never used HTML, don't worry. The Draac.com site provides an informative and well-written introduction to HTML. In just a few minutes, you'll know enough HTML to print text in different styles, colors and sizes. (Aunt Susie will no doubt be pleased to receive a letter in a large text size that's easy for her to read.)
- Another word processing site is WebTV Info word processor. On this site, you can add paragraph breaks and other formatting features, by choosing the buttons on the bottom of the page as you type.
Tip: I don't know about your elderly aunts, but my Aunt Susie is a stickler for spelling. If you'd like to check the spelling of a word before you commit it to ink, go to the American English Spelling Checker. Take a whack at spelling a word, and this handy helper will try and figure out what you're trying to spell, and then offer a list of words that are spelled correctly.
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Cards, graphics and more
If you're looking for something that's more fun than simple word processing, there are sites that offer free templates for letters, cards, to-do lists, and more.
- A great place to start your search is at Everything WebTV. Everything WebTV is true to its name — it has everything! There are links here to pages where you can find clip art, envelope templates, recipe cards — you name it, it's there. (Note: Some of the links are no longer active, so you'll have to poke around a bit — but you'll find plenty of useful sites.)
- One of my favorite printing sites is Original Country Clip Art by Lisa. Here you'll find a variety of printable recipe cards, shopping lists, gift tags, and to-do lists, with many folksy graphics (sunflowers, angels, chickens and more) to choose from.
- Schoolhouse Printables has a nice selection of worksheets and clip art for school projects. To find links to sites that let you create custom greeting cards, click here.
Note: While you're surfing around and checking out all of these great sites, keep in mind that MSN TV doesn't own any of these pages, so we can't control what is or isn't on them. If you run into a problem with a particular site, your best bet is to contact its Webmaster directly.
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Don't forget to write
With MSN TV, the right Web site, and a printer, you can use newfangled technology to print letters the old-fashioned way. Better yet, you can have a veritable greeting-card shop at your disposal. With the resources on these sites, you'll make the world a better place for elderly aunts — and for yourself.
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