TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Bold, Italics, etc. From:John Prince <prince1 -at- WEBTV -dot- NET> Date:Sat, 1 Nov 1997 11:42:25 -0600
I was always taught to bold any actions the user must perform. Not the
entire sentence of course, only the button name, "Click Save," or
Menu/Submenu selections, "Go to File>Save."
I was also taught not never to underline anything, as underlining was
simply used on typewriters before there was the italics function.
Obviously there are those that differ, but hey - it's what I do.
Now, I do have a question about dialog boxes. Do you guys write the
name of a dialog box in bold or italics? Or do you simply write it in
plain text? I prefer to write them in bold, BUT...sometimes when you
have other words in bold (actions) and you write the dialog boxes in
bold, in the same sentence, it's seems a bit too much.
