SAIF: Creating Accessible Documents
Using Styles in Microsoft Word
Using Styles and Formatting in a Word document helps make it more accessible if it is to be distributed via the web, intranet or email. In Word 2007 you can find the Styles task pane when you click on the Home tab.
In earlier versions, the Styles and Formatting Toolbar may be placed under the menu bar, or you can access the Styles and Formatting task pane by going to Format in the menu bar and then to Styles and Formatting.
Basic styles
There are four style types in Word. Knowing about them will help you understand what you are looking at in the task pane, what your options are for creating new styles and what impact a style will have on the text in your document.
Paragraph styles
Paragraph styles include not just font type and size, but also formatting for a whoel paragraph's text position and spacing. A paragraph style can be applied to one or more paragraphs.
A paragraph style's formatting will be applied to all the text within the end paragraph mark of where your pointer is positioned.
Character styles
These are applied at character level - to block of words and letters - rather than the paragraph level. An example would be an "emphasis" styles that applies, say, both an underline and italic type.