Text and Fonts

What it is

Text and font formatting in Word refers to how you style and present written content in your documents. This includes choices about:

  • Font family: The typeface used (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri)
  • Font size: How large or small the text appears (measured in points)
  • Font color: The color of the text
  • Text formatting: Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and other styles
  • Spacing: Line spacing, paragraph spacing, and character spacing
  • Alignment: How text lines up (left, center, right, justified)
  • Contrast: The difference between text color and background color

Proper text and font formatting ensures that your document is readable and accessible to all users, including those with visual impairments, cognitive disabilities, or reading difficulties.

Why it matters

Text and font choices significantly impact document accessibility:

  • Low vision users: Need adequate font size and high contrast to read text clearly
  • Dyslexia and reading disabilities: Benefit from specific fonts, spacing, and clear formatting
  • Color blindness: Require good contrast and cannot rely on color alone to understand information
  • Cognitive disabilities: Find simple, consistent fonts and formatting easier to process
  • Screen reader users: Benefit from proper text formatting that conveys meaning semantically (e.g., using italics for emphasis vs. quotes)
  • Print and digital accessibility: Well-formatted text remains readable when printed, converted to PDF, or viewed on different devices

💡 Universal benefit

Good text and font formatting doesn't just help people with disabilities - it makes documents easier for everyone to read, especially in challenging conditions like bright sunlight, poor lighting, or on small screens.

How to do it

Choosing accessible fonts

Best font families

Use simple, clean sans-serif fonts for digital documents:

  • Arial - Clean, widely available
  • Calibri - Modern, designed for screen reading
  • Verdana - Wide spacing, excellent for screen reading
  • Tahoma - Clear distinction between characters
  • Helvetica - Classic, professional

✅ Why sans-serif?

Sans-serif fonts (without the small decorative lines at the ends of characters) are generally easier to read on screens and at smaller sizes. They have cleaner lines and better letter distinction.

Fonts to avoid

  • Decorative fonts (e.g., Curlz MT, Papyrus) - Hard to read and unprofessional
  • Script fonts (e.g., Brush Script, Lucida Handwriting) - Difficult to read, especially at small sizes
  • Very thin or light fonts - Low contrast, hard to see
  • Condensed fonts - Letters too close together, hard to distinguish
  • All caps fonts - Harder to read; use regular case instead

How to change the font

  1. Select the text you want to format
  2. Go to the Home tab
  3. In the Font group, click the font dropdown (shows current font name)
  4. Select your preferred font from the list
  5. Alternatively, type the font name to quickly find it

Setting appropriate font size

Minimum sizes

  • Body text: Minimum 11-12 points (12pt preferred)
  • Headings: Progressively larger (14pt, 16pt, 18pt, etc.)
  • Footnotes/captions: Minimum 10 points

⚠️ Avoid very small text

Text smaller than 10 points is difficult for many people to read, even with good vision. If you need to include detailed information, consider using an appendix or linked document rather than tiny text.

How to change font size

  1. Select the text you want to resize
  2. Go to the Home tab
  3. In the Font group, click the font size dropdown (shows current size)
  4. Select a size from the list, or type a custom size
  5. You can also use Ctrl+] to increase or Ctrl+[ to decrease font size

Ensuring adequate color contrast

Contrast requirements

  • Normal text: Minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio with background (e.g., #767676 on white)
  • Large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold): Minimum 3:1 contrast ratio
  • Best practice: Aim for 7:1 for better readability

Safe color combinations

  • Black text on white background - 21:1 ratio (excellent)
  • Dark gray (#333333) on white - 12.6:1 ratio (excellent)
  • White text on black background - 21:1 ratio (excellent)
  • Dark blue (#000080) on white - 8.6:1 ratio (very good)

How to change text color

  1. Select the text you want to color
  2. Go to the Home tab
  3. In the Font group, click the Font Color dropdown (A with colored underline)
  4. Choose a color from the palette
  5. Or select More Colors for custom colors
  6. After selecting, test contrast using an online contrast checker

❌ Color alone is not enough

Never use color as the only way to convey information. For example, don't just make important text red - also make it bold or add an indicator like "(Important)" or an icon. This helps color-blind users and those using black-and-white printouts.

Using text formatting effectively

Bold text

  • Use for: Emphasis, important terms, labels
  • How: Select text and press Ctrl+B or click the Bold button (B) in the Font group
  • Accessibility: Screen readers can announce bold text as emphasis

Italic text

  • Use for: Book titles, foreign words, technical terms
  • How: Select text and press Ctrl+I or click the Italic button (I)
  • Caution: Italics can be harder to read; use sparingly and never for long passages

Underline

  • Use for: Hyperlinks (automatic underline)
  • Avoid for: General emphasis (can be confused with links)
  • How: Select text and press Ctrl+U or click the Underline button (U)

Other formatting to avoid

  • All caps: HARDER TO READ and can be interpreted as shouting; use title case instead
  • Excessive highlighting: Can reduce contrast and make text harder to read
  • Multiple formatting layers: Avoid combining bold, italic, underline, and color on the same text

Setting appropriate spacing

Line spacing

Adequate line spacing improves readability:

  • Body text: Use 1.5 or double spacing
  • Minimum: Never use less than single spacing

To set line spacing:

  1. Select the text or place cursor in paragraph
  2. Go to Home tab > Paragraph group
  3. Click the Line and Paragraph Spacing button (icon with up/down arrows)
  4. Select 1.5 or 2.0
  5. Or select Line Spacing Options for more control

Paragraph spacing

Add space between paragraphs instead of using empty lines:

  • Space after paragraph: 6-12 points recommended
  • Space before paragraph: 0-6 points (or more for headings)

To set paragraph spacing:

  1. Select the paragraph(s)
  2. Go to Layout tab > Paragraph group
  3. Adjust Before and After spacing values
  4. Or right-click > Paragraph > Indents and Spacing tab

Character spacing

Adjust spacing between characters if needed for readability:

  1. Select the text
  2. Go to Home tab > Font group
  3. Click the small arrow in the bottom-right corner to open Font dialog
  4. Go to the Advanced tab
  5. Adjust Spacing (Normal, Expanded, or Condensed)
  6. Set the amount (in points) if using Expanded or Condensed

Text alignment

Best practices

  • Left-aligned: Best for body text in English and other left-to-right languages
  • Center-aligned: Use only for titles, headings, or special elements
  • Right-aligned: Rarely used except for dates, signatures, or specific design needs
  • Justified: Creates uneven spacing; avoid for accessibility

⚠️ Avoid justified text

Justified alignment (flush left and right) creates uneven spacing between words, which can make text harder to read, especially for people with dyslexia or low vision. Use left-aligned text instead.

How to set alignment

  • Select the text or paragraph
  • Go to Home tab > Paragraph group
  • Click one of the alignment buttons: Align Left, Center, Align Right, or Justify
  • Or use keyboard shortcuts:
    • Ctrl+L - Align left
    • Ctrl+E - Center
    • Ctrl+R - Align right
    • Ctrl+J - Justify

Using styles for consistency

Rather than manually formatting text throughout your document, use Word's built-in styles:

  • Ensures consistent formatting throughout the document
  • Makes it easy to update formatting globally
  • Maintains accessibility when converting to other formats
  • Reduces errors and saves time

Modify the "Normal" style to set default font, size, spacing, and color for your entire document:

  1. Right-click on Normal in the Styles group (Home tab)
  2. Select Modify
  3. Set your preferred font, size, and formatting options
  4. Click Format > Paragraph to set spacing and alignment
  5. Check "New documents based on this template" to apply to future documents
  6. Click OK

✅ Text and fonts checklist

  • ☐ Used sans-serif font (Arial, Calibri, Verdana) for body text
  • ☐ Font size is at least 11-12pt for body text
  • ☐ Text color has adequate contrast with background (4.5:1 minimum)
  • ☐ Color is not the only way information is conveyed
  • ☐ Used bold for emphasis (limited use of italics)
  • ☐ Avoided underlining except for links
  • ☐ Line spacing is at least 1.5 for body text
  • ☐ Paragraph spacing is used (6-12pt) instead of empty lines
  • ☐ Text is left-aligned (avoided justified alignment)
  • ☐ Avoided all caps, excessive highlighting, and decorative fonts
  • ☐ Used styles for consistency throughout document
  • ☐ Tested readability with different zoom levels and screen sizes