Yes perhaps I was a little harsh in using the term "most general users don't bother....".
It's probably more accurate to say that most general Word users don't know about the styles or understand their importance in the correct formatting of the document.
If I'm honest, I learned the hard way myself. I had a very complex document with multi-level numbered headings with different formatting for each level, and I was applying this formatting manually all underneath the Normal style.
Eventually the document started mucking about - the formatting was not very stable. I thought it was a bug in Word.
That's when I learned about styles. Very important for complex documents. And, actually, once you've made yourself familiar with them they totally make sense and you'll never go back. It saves you time in the long run too.
AH
