There are some very simple things that you can do when creating documents in Microsoft Word in order to make your text accessible to a wide range of readers:

 

A. Styles

A style is a set of characteristics that you can apply to any text. Imagine you want to make your section headings larger, bold and slightly indented. Instead of taking three separate steps to get the look you want, you could perform all three actions at once with a style. Using styles has several advantages over manually formatting text: you can instantly create a Table of Contents for a long document; you can make document-wide changes in one click; blind or visually-impaired readers can easily navigate through the document; if you convert a Word doc into another format e.g. PDF or rtf, the styles (and navigability) are also carried forward.

 

B. Consider Columns

If you are providing a very text heavy document, consider using columns. People with dyslexia often find material in columns easier to read than if it is presented in long lines across the width of the page.

 

C. Tables/Charts

Tables and charts can be excellent ways of presenting complex or large amounts of information. Alternative text with charts and images is useful for readers who cannot see. It is wise, however, to avoid using unnecessary tables, and to mark up the ones you do use correctly (i.e. use the Tables tools in Word rather than drawing lines).

 

D. Fonts

Many readers with dyslexia find sans serif fonts such as Verdana, Arial, Trebuchet MS easier to read. The default font in Word is Times New Roman, which is a serif font and is considered more difficult to read on-screen. For most readers font size 12pt or higher is best.

 

E. Saving your document

While Word is widely available, it is not universal. Some readers may not use Word or may use other versions of Word. If your document is just text and images, consider saving it as an rtf (Rich Text Format) document. This format can be opened by all word processors. Txt is another format suitable for documents which consist only of text and require no formatting.

 

F. Printing

Many readers prefer to print documents rather than read them on screen. Similarly, most people print black and white rather than colour. Documents should be formatted so that they can be easily read. One of the great advantages of providing material in digital form is that readers can format text in whatever way they choose.