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Authoring Source Documents » Microsoft Word » Microsoft Word Templates and Standards » Character Styles in Word
Character Styles in Word
Create character styles for items based on function, not based on formatting or appearance. 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.
You can apply only one character style to a set of text. If you apply a second character style to that text, it replaces the initial character style. Therefore, you may need more character styles to address all the possible combinations, such as variables in a paragraph and variables in a code sample.
Common character styles include:
*Book titles in cross references
*Emphasized text
*Command names
*File and folder names
*User interface items
*Optional steps or if clauses used to introduce optional steps
*Links
*New terms
*Step numbers, which allows you to apply formatting to the step number defined with a sequence field code
*Text the user must type
*Variables
ePublisher projects use custom field code markers and 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 character styles you may need to support ePublisher online content features:
*Multiple language support, such as bidirectional languages and text, can require a paragraph or character style with Bidi support enabled.
*Abbreviation character style identifies abbreviation alternate text for browsers to display for abbreviations, such as SS#, when a user hovers over the abbreviation in output. Screen readers also can read the abbreviation alternate text. This character style is used in combination with the AbbreviationTitle marker type.
*Acronym character style identifies acronym alternate text for browsers to display for acronyms, such as HTML, when a user hovers over the acronym in output. Screen readers can also read the acronym alternate text. This character style is used in combination with the AcronymTitle marker type.
*Citation character style identifies the source of a quote using a fully-qualified Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) when a user hovers over the quote in output. Screen readers can also read the URI for the quote. This character style is used in combination with the Citation marker type.
*See Also character style identifies the text you want to include in a See Also button. This style controls the appearance of the text on the button.
For more information about enabling a specific online feature, see Designing, Deploying, and Managing Stationery.
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Last modified date: 06/11/2024