Paragraph Styles in Word
Create paragraph styles for items based on function, not based on formatting. This approach allows you to modify formatting over time and the style names continue to apply. It also prepares you for structured writing in the future.
Name your paragraph styles starting with naming conventions that group styles by function. For example, group procedure-related styles together by starting the style names with Procedure, such as ProcedureIntro, ProcedureStep, and ProcedureSubstep.
Note: Style names should not include a period in their name. The period can cause display issues when ePublisher creates the cascading style sheet entry that defines the appearance of the style.
To simplify formatting and save time for future maintenance and customization, set the default paragraph font and spacing for a base style, such as Normal. Then, base other styles on this base style to inherit the default formatting settings. This process allows you to quickly modify fonts and spacing across styles by modifying only the base style. You can customize settings for each style as needed. The customized settings are not affected when you modify those settings in the base style. To simplify maintenance for heading styles, which often use a different font than your content styles, you may want to base all heading styles on the Heading 1 style to define the font for all headings.
In ePublisher, you can scan the source documents to list all the paragraph styles. Then, you can organize them in ePublisher to allow property inheritance and to streamline the customization process for your generated output.
You may need multiple paragraph styles to define functions that support pagination settings, such as a BodyListIntro format that has Keep with next set. To reduce the number of paragraph styles, you can customize paragraphs to add the Keep with next setting as needed. Customizing this setting on a paragraph does not affect the ability for the paragraph to receive the other formatting settings from the style definition.
To automate and simplify template use, define the paragraph style that follows each paragraph style. This process allows the writer to press Enter after writing a paragraph and the template creates the next paragraph with the style most commonly used next. For example, after a Heading style, the writer most often writes a body paragraph of content.
Common paragraph styles include:
Figure paragraphs. You may need multiple indents, such as Figure, FigureInList, and FigureInList2.Body paragraphs. You may need multiple indents, such as Body, BodyInList, and BodyInList2. To reduce training needs, you can use the default style names, such as Body Text, Body Text Indent, and Body Text Indent 2.Headings, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and Heading 4. You may also need specialized headings, such as Title, Subtitle, FrontMatterHeading1, FrontMatterHeading2, and FrontMatterHeading3. The cross-reference feature in Microsoft Word allows you to create cross references to headings that use the default Heading styles named Heading X, where X is a number. To create cross references to other styles, use bookmarks. Do not paste content at the beginning of a heading. Existing cross references to that heading may include the pasted content when the cross references are updated.Bulleted lists. You may need multiple bullet levels, such as Bullet, Bullet2, Bullet3. You may also need a bullet item within a procedure, such as a ProcedureBullet and a bullet item within a table, such as a CellBullet. For more information, see Bulleted and Numbered Lists in Word.Numbered lists. You may need multiple levels, such as ProcedureStep that uses numbers and ProcedureSubstep that uses lowercase letters. You may also need numbered list items in tables, such as CellStep. Be sure to consider related supporting formats, such as ProcedureIntro. For more information, see Bulleted and Numbered Lists in Word.Examples, such as code or command syntax statements, usually in a fixed font. To keep the lines of a code example together, you can set the Keep with next setting for the Example style and use an ExampleLast style to identify the end of the example. You may also need multiple example levels, such as ExampleInList and ExampleInListLast.Paragraphs in tables, such as CellHeading, CellBody, CellBody2, CellStep, and CellBullet.Legal notice and copyright or trademark styles for inside the cover page.Table of contents and Index styles.Definition lists, such as term and definition or description. You can use a two-column table for this purpose, but a definition list allows long terms, such as field labels in a user interface, to run across the page without wrapping. Then, the definition or description are indented below the term.Header and footer styles to control formatting.Notes, cautions, tips, and warnings.ePublisher projects use custom field code markers, paragraph styles, and character styles to define online features. You need to give the list of markers and styles to the writers so they know how to implement each online feature. The writers use the markers and styles you create to define online features.
The Stationery defines the custom markers and styles. To reduce complexity, you can use the style names defined in the documentation, or you can define the online feature to a different style. The following list identifies additional paragraph styles you may need to support ePublisher online content features:
Paragraph or character styles to support multiple languages, such as bidirectional languages and text.Dropdown paragraph style that identifies the start of an expand/collapse section. You can end the section with a paragraph style defined to end the section, or with a DropDownEnd marker.Popup paragraph styles that define several aspects of popup window content:
Popup paragraph style identifies the content to display in a popup window and in a standard help topic. This style is applied to the first paragraph of popup content.Popup Append paragraph style identifies the content to display in a popup window and in a standard help topic. This style is applied to additional popup paragraphs when you have more than one paragraph of content to include in a popup window.Popup Only paragraph style identifies the content to display only in a popup window. This style is applied to the first paragraph of popup content.Popup Only Append paragraph style identifies the content to display only in a popup window. This style is applied to additional popup paragraphs when you have more than one paragraph of content to include in a popup window.Related topics paragraph style that identifies a link to a related topic, such as a concept topic related to a task or a task related to a concept.See Also paragraph style that identifies the text you want to include in an inline See Also link.For more information about enabling a specific online feature, see Designing, Deploying, and Managing Stationery.
Last modified date: 06/11/2024