This is the universal choice of formatting.

Use the Normal style to consistently add this formatting to the whole of your document.

Some users may not find this choice suitable. If you use styles, users are able to easily adapt the document to suit their individual needs by reformatting the style.

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Your document may contain images that convey meaning rather than being merely decorative. A screen reader will not be able to interpret this and the listener misses that information. Also, over time images may become lost and your document will be left with a blank placeholder where the image used to appear.

Alternative (alt) text is the description or meaning of the image that the sighted person would gain by looking at it. You can add this to your image, or tables, videos and shapes.

Alt text will be read out to the user by a screen reader and it will be displayed in the place of the image should the image become lost.

Links written out in full do not convey meaning and clutter up your document. A screen reader will read out every character of the link, some can be many lines long. Or, link text can be meaningless such as Click here.

Add meaningful phrase that conveys the destination or purpose of the linkm hiding the full text and making your document more concise.

Those skim reading your document will be able to instantly understand its meaning and screen readers will read the descriptive text of the link to the user.

Add the text here

Add the text here

Those who do not use a mouse but navigate your document using the keyboard will have to click through every blank line you add. A screen reader may read out every blank line to the listener.

Use page and section breaks to add white space to your document such as starting on  the next page.

Screen readers and those using the keyboard will be able to jump to the next section in one action.

Long paragraphs are harder to comprehend and can appear off-putting.

Add in bullet points or break the text into smaller paragraphs.

Italics can be problematic for those with dyslexia and underlining can be mistaken for a  hyperlink confusing users who try to click the text.

Don’t use colour as the only indicator of your meaning, 9% of men are colour blind and may not be able to see the colour you add. Don’t use coloured backgrounds as those with less clear vision or dyslexia reduce contrast and make a document harder to read.

Instead use different styles to add emphasis to your text.

A screen reader may announce an emphasis style to a non sighted reader indicating that the text is important.

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Ariel font, size 12 and left align your text, use Normal style to ensure consistency.

Some users may not find this choice suitable. If you use styles, users are able to easily adapt the document to suit their individual needs by reformatting the style

Remove multiple blank lines, use page and section breaks instead to add white space.

Those who do not use a mouse but navigate using the keyboard will have to click through every blank line; a screen reader will read out every blank line to the listener.

Avoid using large paragraphs, but add in bullet points or break up into smaller paragraphs.

Long paragraphs are harder to comprehend and can appear off-putting.

Use colour sparingly and not as the only indicator of meaning.

Those with less clear vision find coloured backgrouds reduce contrast and make a document harder to read; 9% of men are colour blind.

Avoid italics and underling for emphasis, use styles instead.

Italics are harder to read and underlining can be confused with hyperlinks. A screen reader may announce an emphasis style to the listener.

Add heading and styles to your document rather than using bold

Add descriptive text to images and tables

Ensure the full text of links are not displayed but are hidden behind a meaningful phrase

Create bulleted and numbered lists using the list tools rather than adding hyphens or dots

Use tables only when displayed related data rather than as a layout tool and ensure columns and rows have headers.

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Also check your document with the Microsoft Accessibility Checker and follow its advice