Page Formatting
Orientation - Portrait or Landscape
Portrait is A4 - 210 x 297 - Long
Landscape is A4 - 297 x 210 - Wide
Decide at the beginning what format you want. You can change later, but this needs some time consuming reworking.
Margins
Word defaults to wide margins (and paper waste) of 2.54 x 2.54 cm. To save trees and better use of the paper, select in Page Layout - Narrow (1.27 x 1.27cm).
Fonts
If the default font is Times New Roman, dump it for something smarter, such as Calibri or Arial.
Never, but never use scripted fonts, as they are ugly. Never use Italics as they are worse. Never use ALL CAPITALS, fro that is SHOUTING. Never use the underscore, for that looks as though you are hyperlinking.
If you need to use a coloured font be careful that it is a readable font colour and not like this.
Ruler
To assist with page formatting, always have the rulers turned on. View/Ruler.
Page Indents
You may want to separate the content from the heading by using a page indent. Home/Indent button and your content will move in one tab stop. You can also outdent from the indent by using the outdent button.
You can also indent from the indent.
Then outdent from the indent.
Bullets and Numbering
- Bullets work well with content.
- As do sub-bullets.
- Sub-sub bullets also work.
- Numbering is another format option.
- Sub-numbering can also be used.
Headings
Just use a larger font size than the default of 11pt. Suggested 14pt
Headers and Footers - and Page Numbering
If you are using more than one page, Footers with Page Numbering is a good way to keep all pages trackable and referenced.
The Footer choice is good in Word. Insert/Footer and choose one. Alphabet and Austere are good, as they include a page number, though some don't.
You can also just se the Page Number option. Insert/Page Number, but you do not get the additional referencing of the topic. If using page numbering, always position at the bottom of the page.
Images
When you Insert/Picture/From File in Word, you need to Wrap the Text (around the picture) Tight, otherwise the space around the picture will be 'locked'. The commands are either:
Crop Tool
You can also crop a picture in Word, simply by using the crop tool.
Word Art
Avoid use where ever possible. It is horrible!
Use the Screen Shot
To capture a screen shot from another program such as IE, under Insert/select the screen shot button and the screen shot will appear in the open Word document.
Hyperlinking
In Word you can create hyperlinks to other documents.
Insert/Hyperlink, select the file to link to and the link is created. It is as simple as that!
