Smart Spacing: Beyond the “Enter” Button

Do you ever feel the urge to press “Enter” repeatedly to create space in your documents? Blank space in a document helps reduce cognitive load by allowing learners to pause and process content before moving on. However, repeatedly pressing the “Enter” button to create space between lines or push text to a new page creates a frustrating experience for individuals who use screen readers. A screen reader announces a blank line created with the Enter key as “blank.” For example, pressing “Enter” five times forces the user to hear “blank, blank, blank, blank, blank.”

On the other hand, the proper methods are not only more accessible — they’ll save you a lot of time, too!

As a rule of thumb, avoid pressing “Enter” more than once at a time. Instead, use these accessible alternatives to create a better experience based on your needs:

• Use the “add space before paragraph” or “add space after paragraph” options in the “line and spacing” dropdown: Screenreaders will know to ignore these lines and start reading from the next piece of text.
• Consider applying standard in-built options for document spacing: Docs offers “Single,” “1.15,” “1.5” and “Double” spacing
• For precise control, use the “Custom Spacing” option. This feature allows you to specify the exact amount of space (e.g., 12 pt) you need between paragraphs or list items.
• “Update Style to Match” after adding/removing space around a heading: This automatically updates all headings to follow the same space formatting (an especially helpful feature for longer documents).
• “Insert a page break” when content should start on the next page: Screenreaders will simply announce this as “page break,” providing a clear navigation cue.

More About Paragraph and Page Spacing

• Microsoft Word Guide
• DELTA Google Docs Guide for Spacing