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Re: hard returns vs before/after spacing style

for

From: Karen McCall
Date: Apr 4, 2023 11:08AM

I agree and I don't think there is anything in PDF or PDF/UA that dictates how to add spacing before or after text.

As a Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and services, and a Microsoft Accessibility MVP, I always teach people to add the paragraph spacing to the style they are using or create a new style with the before and after spacing they want/need instead of pressing Enter. There is more control over the content as well as consistency in the look and feel.

When the content is converted to tagged PDF, the spacing comes with it and there are no blank lines in the PDF IF the spacing has been added to the style in Word, for example.

It is for this reason, avoiding the "blank blank" syndrome that I also teach how to adjust the cell margins in tables instead of pressing Enter to create space.

Cheers, Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Jerra Strong
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 12:59 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] hard returns vs before/after spacing style

Using two returns in a row to create space will mean that screen readers voice "blank" between each paragraph, sometimes more than once, depending on the amount of space you need. In my trainings, I always advise against doing this where paragraph spacing will do the trick. Besides, you get more control over the amount of space between elements when using paragraph spacing.

On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 9:46 AM Laura Roberts < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hoping Bevi responds to this!
>
> My habit in word docs is to create various styles with paragraph
> before/after spacing. Makes it less likely that hard returns will
> carry over the wrong spacing and subsequently I have to comb through
> the document making corrections.
>
> As far as PDF/UA is concerned, is there a preference for paragraph
> spacing styles or hard returns? (I have a client who only wants
> default paragraph style and hard returns.)
>
> I haven't thought about this in a long time!
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Laura Roberts
> 413-588-8422
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