Use styles

To ensure users can navigate and understand the nature of your digital content there are a few attributes that you need to set against important elements. These should be set up as ‘styles’ in your Word template. When correctly set up, applying these styles will set both the visual appearance and the correct attribute of the text, telling assistive technology that for example, you are on a heading or a list.

You can use the styles element in the ribbon but you may find it a lot easier to open the styles panel, which will then sit on the right-hand side of your document – the button to open the styles panel is next to the styles section on the ribbon. Always choose styles from the pre-defined list and avoid specifying your own font sizes, colours, borders, and so on. This will ensure that your document is consistent in appearance and properly tagged with structural information. If you do not have a defined set of styles, ask your design team to create one for you.

This guidance currently aligns with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and is being updated to reflect WCAG 2.2.

Organisations subject to the Web Accessibility Directive or the European Accessibility Act should refer to WCAG 2.2 (W3C.org)(w3.org) (w3.org), as compliance will be required when the revised EN 301 549 standard (PDF)(etsi.org) (etsi.org) is published in the Official Journal of the European Union in December 2026.

Techniques

The ribbon at the top includes a limited view of the available styles

The currently applied style is highlighted; clicking on a different style will change the appearance and nature of the selected text.

The styles section of the ribbon at the top of Microsoft Word — Figure 1

The styles panel provides a clearer view of the styles available

The currently applied style is indicated at the top and highlighted in the list; clicking on a different style will change the appearance and nature of the selected text.

The styles panel in Microsoft Word, displaying the available styles in the current document — Figure 2

Use styles

Techniques

The ribbon at the top includes a limited view of the available styles

The styles panel provides a clearer view of the styles available

References

WCAG 2.1

EN 301 549 v 2.1.2