A Reader-Centered Approach to Formatting Documents

Because page design can have such a significant impact on your communication’s usability and overall message, you should take the same reader-centered approach to document design that you take when writing. In other words, carefully consider your audience as you create your documents, including who they are, what they need from your communication, and the context in which they’ll be reading.

Design Elements for Documents

It is helpful to think about the building blocks of page design in the way that professional designers do. When they look at a page, they see six basic elements:

• • 1. Text: paragraphs and sentences
    2. Headings and titles: labels to structure sections of your communication.
    3. Graphics: Drawings, tables, photographs, and so on — including their captions.
    4. White space: Blank areas.
    5. Headers and footers: The items, such as page numbers, that occur at the top or bottom of each page in a multipage document.
    6. Physical features: These include paper, which may take many shapes and sizes, and bindings, which come in many forms.

In Figure 4.1 below, notice the differences between the two document styles:

Document Formatting

Document formatting refers to the way a document is visually organized on the page and includes elements such as fonts (type, size, and presentation, like bold, italicized, or colored text); spacing between sentences and paragraphs, as well as a document’s overall margin spacing); alignment of text and graphics, including text justification (left-, centered-, or right-justified) and indentation or tab stops; and the use of lists (numerical, alphabetical, or bullet-pointed), columns, and tables.—anything that has to do with how and where things appear on the page.

A document’s visual appeal affects how readers perceive its information, so it’s important to think about your audience’s needs and to strive to create documents that are consistently and correctly formatted so that they are easy to read and navigate. It’s easy to overlook or even dismiss slight differences in things like font size and line spacing, but these kinds of subtle inconsistencies can detract from the overall professionalism of your work and reflect poorly on your abilities, which in turn may damage your credibility and your readers’ confidence in your message.

Formatting for Accessibility

Formatting plays a crucial role in making information more accessible to your readers and should be designed to be easily read by all users, including low vision or non-sighted readers, who may be using screen reader software to navigate through your document. Applying the following set of common document design principles will make your content accessible to readers using assistive technology:

• • • Use defined heading styles to create a consistent structure for the document, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, etc., followed by standard “paragraph” or “normal” styles for the main body text;
    • Use lists to help visually structure information, such as bullet-points for unordered information and numbered lists for  ordered information;
    • Use meaningful hyperlinks that succinctly describe the website;
    • Add alternate (or “alt”) text to images to describe the content of all visuals, including charts, graphs, photos, and illustrations;
    • Use tables to structure information in rows and columns with headers; and
    • Use at least an 11-point sans serif font to aid readability.

For more information on creating accessible documents, visit Harvard University’s Digital Accessibility Services’ webpage “Accessible Documents.”

There are many ways to format technical and professional documents. Some instructors will specify formatting requirements for assignments, and some workplaces and organizations use specific templates for their documentation. If a particular style is not dictated, always aim for clarity, consistency, and accessibility in formatting your documents. You may also refer to the following list of generally acceptable formatting standards for most technical, professional, and workplace documentation:

• Margins should be 1 inch on all sides;
• Only the left margin should be justified; fully justified paragraphs can result in odd spacing of text;
• Font sizing should be 11- or 12-point for body text and between 12- and 20-point for headings;
• Font styles for headings are typically sans serif, such as Arial or Calibri;
• Font styles for body text can be serif, such as Times New Roman or Cambria; however, a sans serif font is usually preferred by readers with low vision
• Single-spacing between 1 and 1.25 s used for most letters and memos; 1.5 or double spacing is sometimes preferred to allow for editing and comments.
• Text colors should be sufficiently contrasted from background colors;
• A table of contents should be used for lengthy documents;
• Paragraphs should be around 10 lines long (generally-speaking); and
• Sentences should be around 15 words long.

Most academic and workplace documents are created using Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or Google Docs (G-Suite). These are generally considered industry standards, so it is important that you learn to use them effectively to create professional workplace documents.

CHAPTER ATTRIBUTION

"Page Design." Joseph Moxley. University of South Florida. Writing Commons.[License: CC BY-NC-SA]