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Computer mouse is a device for manipulating figures on a computer screen without using a keyboard. It is an input mechanism that bears some resemblance to the animal. Computer operations often involve creating, selecting, or manipulating items on a screen. A computer mouse can perform these tasks by pointing or taking the cursor to the desired place, on the screen.

It is a hand operated pointing device that senses movements as it is dragged across a flat surface and conveys this information to the computer. In this way images, and text can be moved around on the screen, or a particular operation selected from a menu. A mouse usually has one or three buttons that are clicked when the user wants to register the cursors current position.

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DTP or Desk-top Publishing is a method of designing, editing and laying out a publication electronically using a personal computer and word processing, graphics and page layout software. This term, DTP, was first coined by Paul Brainerd, a British pioneer in this field.

In a DTP process, whatever be, the matter or layout of a page, it is composed electronically and stored in the computer with the help of a page making software. Corrections of any type or changes can be easily done any number of times on the computer and the desired output is then obtained from a laser printer on paper. The camera ready text matter is then converted into photographic film (negative or positive) from which plates are made for printing. In newspaper publishing, it provides for incorporation of text, as it arrives by e-mail, directly into the pages being prepared. DTP is a versatile technology for applications in the advertising, designing and publishing business.

 

E-mail is the short form for electronic mail, which is based on the use of computers for the transmission of messages rather than through the postal system. The e-mail system connects a network of personal computers (PC) spread over hundreds of locations within a country or across the globe. A PC is set-up as a message server in the system. The users at other PCs can link up with the server at any time to receive and transmit messages.

Each user of the e-mail system is allotted a code number or address in the e-mail directory. To send a message, a user has to “key-in” the message in his PC along-with the directory numbers allotted to him and the receiver of the message. The sender can indicate if the message is confidential or universal and also set a time limit for its retention. The receiver, on receiving the message at his computer terminal, can get it printed on paper.

 The main advantages of e-mail are that it cuts down the delay involved in postal transmission of messages. Moreover, messages can be sent at any time of day or night which are stored and can be retrieved by the recipient at his or her convenience. Besides once the contact between the transmitter and receiver PCs is established e-mail requires only a few minutes time to transmit even a bulky message.