1. Document title
Define the document title in the document properties right at the beginning of your work.
We explain how this works in the article Document title.
2. Define language
Define the language of your content by selecting (all) content and clicking on the language in the status line at the bottom on the left-hand side.
You can find instructions on how to do this in the article Define language.
3. Title and subtitle
Start your document and enter title and subtitle. You can simply overwrite the words "Title" and "Subtitle" on the title page.
4. Headings and paragraphs
Headings
Use the paragraph styles "Heading 1", "Heading 2" and so on according to the structure of your document and take care that you do not skip any level.
Reason
Headings are important for quick navigation within your document – especially for users of assistive technologies (AT).
Again, you can just overwrite the existing headings and paragraphs.
For further headings and paragraphs start a new paragraph, e.g. the new paragraph "This shall become a Heading 4".
Afterwards assign the corresponding paragraph style to this paragraph by clicking on "Heading 4" in the Styles task pane. It is sufficient if you position the cursor in the paragraph (i. e. you do not have to select the whole paragraph when assigning a paragraph style).
Paragraphs
Please use hard line breaks and soft line breaks correctly:
- Hard line break (Return key): begin a new paragraph.
- Soft line break (Shift + Return-key): begin a new line within a paragraph.
5. Tables
Overwrite the caption of the table, the table headers and the data cells with your values. You can also delete rows or columns or insert new ones. Use right-click in a row or column and select Insert option or Delete option.
6. Figures and diagrams
Decide whether your graphics are relevant content or just decorative elements.
6.1 Relevant content
Anchor your figures in case they do not use the In Line with Text layout option. Click therefore on the figure and then on the symbol for the layout options. A list will be opened where you can select a layout option.
Add an alternative text in the axesWord – role mapping task pane.
Reason
Figures cannot be recognized by blind users. With the alternative text they have access to the main issues of the figure.
6.2 Decorative content
When a figure is a decorative element, then assign this element the Artifact role in the axesWord – role mapping task pane.
7. Lists
7.1 Simple lists
Type all list items in separate paragraphs. Then assign these paragraphs to the paragraph style "List".
7.2 List Continue
When you want to add further paragraphs within one list entry (i. e. the further paragraphs belong to this list entry), assign them the paragraph style "List Continue".
Reason
After converting the document to a PDF, the list entry will have two (or more) paragraphs and will not be divided into separate lists.
7.3 Multilevel lists
Type all list items in separate paragraphs. Then assign them the paragraph styles "List", "List 2", "List 3", "List 4" or "List 5" (for numbered lists choose the paragraph styles "List Number", "List Number 2" etc.).
Tip
After you have defined the first list entry with the paragraph style "List Number" (or "List"), you can use the Tab key for the following paragraphs of the list. Example: you have entered a list entry of level 1 and have begun a new paragraph – now you can just press the Tab key once and write a list entry of level 2 immediately. Please take care that you do not skip one or more levels, because this would produce an illogical list.
8. Header and footer
Double click in the area of the header or footer. Now you can enter or edit text.
To insert the page number to the footer, click in the Header & Footer command group on the Page Number button and afterwards on the Bottom of Page option. Now a menu opens and you can select one of the given formats.
9. Character styles
If you want to format single characters or words within a paragraph in a special way (e. g. colored or bold) it is very useful to have character styles defined. Character styles are applied to individual characters or words that you select. In the Styles task pane, character styles have a lowercase letter "a" beside them.
First select the text parts you want to distinguish. Then click on a character style in the Styles task pane, e. g. "Intense Emphasis". The selected text will be formatted accordingly.
An advantage of character styles is that you can adapt all formatted text parts in your document at once – just modify the according character style.
10. Create an accessible PDF document
Finally, click in the axesWord tab on the Export PDF button.