Report Fonts: Long-Document Styles, Tables and Navigation

The Department for Transport’s Word-document guidance is explicitly scoped to reports commissioned for that department. It calls for a logical hierarchy using Word heading styles and describes an automatic table of contents and checks of its links. DWP’s accessibility manual likewise distinguishes a visually enlarged heading from a programmatically defined one. These sources explain why selecting a professional-looking family is only one part of preparing a navigable report; they do not prescribe a universal best font for every organization.

Prepare one real chapter title, a section heading, several paragraphs and a caption. Compare Source Sans 3, Source Serif 4 and Lora below without changing the wording or page width. Choose roles that distinguish headings from reading text, then apply those decisions through named styles in the document editor. Include a heading that wraps and a paragraph with emphasis. Record the chosen family, size, spacing and role together rather than leaving a collection of manually formatted exceptions.

Add a representative data table with a long column heading, units and a source note. Use a real table structure instead of lining values up with spaces or pasting a screenshot of the numbers. The DfT guidance recommends simple tables and identifying header rows; DWP also advises against tables used merely for page layout. If a table becomes too dense, reconsider its organization before reducing all the report’s text. Keep its caption and nearby explanation connected to the evidence they describe.

Update the contents and cross-references after editing, then use them to move between chapters and supporting material. Check that the longest heading still fits and that captions have not separated from their figures. DWP advises exporting with accessibility tags and notes that automated checkers do not find every error. Inspect the delivered document as a reader, including its navigation and searchable text. Preserve the editable source and style definitions so the next edition can be revised consistently.