How about using the Styles Pane anchored to one side?
(Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S)

See also this free Add-In: Styles QAT Add-In


IMO, the ability of the Quick Styles Gallery to let you preview is one of the truly big improvements made to Word's implementation of the Ribbon interface.


(Where are they used to seeing little buttons for styles? I do not recall that ever being a Word feature. The menu versions <2007 had little icons but not for Styles, really.}