: Re: Plain language with long required phrases I am trying to create documentation for an application, and it's for end users who use keyboard (not mouse) and a screen reader. Some of our conventions

@Annie587

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It's possible you're tying yourself in knots with Hemingway which is, perhaps, better for prose writers than technical writers.

Hemingway themselves state:

But what if I want to break the rules?

Rules are meant to be broken. If you know what you're doing, don't let
us stop you. View our suggestions as just that.

I used to write instructional manuals for IBM and Sun Microsystems. For new users, I'd try to emulate the formatting of a Dummies book. Word 2007 for Dummies has a Look Inside for you to see how they handle it.

If you aren't constrained by company formatting, try splitting out the processes with a quick explanation, followed by a numbered list of commands, with the clicks and keyboard strokes in bold, and explanations unbolded. Like this:

IMPORTING A PICTURE INTO A MS WORD DOCUMENT

Importing pictures into Word is very easy, just take the following steps:

Left click the INSERT menu option. A pop up menu appears.
From the pop up menu, select PICTURES. A side menu appears.
From the side menu, select PICTURE FROM FILE.

Stripping each method into numbered lists avoids long, complex sentences with commands embedded in the middle. Of short sentences like this, Hemingway should approve.

I've used mouse clicks in this example, which you would just switch out for keyboard commands. I didn't know the keyboard commands for this example!

HTH, but difficult to advise better when I don't know all the rules you have to abide by.

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