# Boldface and Italics in posts **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 2, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441 "2001-09-02T22:08:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Space\_Otter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Space\_Otter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Otter)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/1 "2001-09-02T22:08:04Z")
Okay, please just some quick advice. I’m not a luddite, but how do you format your posts to give italics, boldface, underlining, etc.? I see others using them and I get jealous. Am I missing some obvious feature here? Is there a thread that explains this for relative newbies? I’ve figured out the quote features and all that but haven’t been able to do this to original text. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/2 "2001-09-02T22:10:26Z")
**Quote** _my_ post [sup]to[/sup] [sub]see[/sub]. Thank the powers I don’t normally have to type like that. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/3 "2001-09-02T22:23:55Z")
If you scroll to the bottom of this page, there is some little tiny print that says “vB code is on.” If you click on this, it will show you how to do many neat little tricks. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Otter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Space\_Otter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Otter)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/4 "2001-09-02T22:35:45Z")
**Thanks folks,** I thought it might work like _that_ but I also thought there might be some keyboard shortcuts or something. **COOL** , now I know. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/5 "2001-09-03T03:07:03Z")
Hey, if you don’t ask you can’t get a reply from someone called **FireUnderpantsBoobs**. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/6 "2001-09-03T03:21:19Z")
**MysterEcks** , may I use that in my sig? ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/7 "2001-09-03T03:39:00Z")
BTW, I should point out that on Netscape on the Mac, boldface looks almost the same as regular type. If you use bold, just realize that as much as 10% of the readers are not seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/8 "2001-09-03T05:01:33Z")
Absolutely, **Fire**. **Chas.E** : It’s your fonts. I use Netscape on a Mac, and bold comes out fine. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/9 "2001-09-03T11:48:14Z")
What version of Netscape are you using? I’m on 4.78 I think, I can see it is slightly wider but no bolder. I’m using the default settings. Mozilla works properly though. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/10 "2001-09-03T19:29:22Z")
Mine is 4.08. I had the same problem with the default settings–bold wouldn’t show up–so I changed the font to Geneva. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/11 "2001-09-04T01:45:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MysterEcks \* > \*\*Mine is 4.08. I had the same problem with the default settings–bold wouldn’t show up–so I changed the font to Geneva. \*\* Ah… well I have to leave my browser settings at default, since this is my web dev machine. I need to see how the default settings work on my pages. ---
**Author:** ![Mersavets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/12 "2001-09-05T16:17:35Z")
I’m using 4.78 on a Mac and boldface works fine but I do get a superfluous character at the end of almost all of my posts. I don’t think this happens when I post from iCab or Opera. It’s no big deal with this message board but is a major pain in the arse when I do journal searches at my university library from home. All my searches have an extra character appended and so obviously my searches turn up nothing. Deleting the character does nothing as it just gets re-attached This means I have to go into uni just to check the catalogues. Anybody have any suggestions?st ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/13 "2001-09-06T07:04:59Z")
Er…if that was directed at me, **Mersavets** , I have to confess that I’m mostly a computer dunce–I knew about the fonts only because I’d run into the problem myself. So I have no idea. If you don’t get an answer here shortly, you might consider posting the question in GQ…though the Anti-Mac Mafia may show up to make fun of you. ---
**Author:** ![Mersavets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/14 "2001-09-07T01:46:05Z")
I’ve already tried that in ATMB. It just drew blanks from the mods and most posters although a few people suggested I just accept it and even develop it as a sort of trademark. I was content with that until this problem with the university catalogues came up. Unlike SDMB posters, the catalogue system is not quirk-tolerant.uq ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/15 "2001-09-07T03:00:55Z")
Well…the only thing I can think of is maybe trashing Netscape and reloading it, or maybe converting to a slightly different version. Or…I personally don’t care for IE, but maybe it would work better for you. Just out of curiousity, does it add the extras when you preview? ---
**Author:** ![Mersavets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/16 "2001-09-07T04:15:50Z")
It adds an extra character when I preview and an extra when I submit the post. I can delete the first character in the preview but I’m just too lazy now since there will be at least one added anyway when I post. On a related note, I also have random space s inserted inside my words. I had the same problem with Netscape 4.6 as well.e ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/17 "2001-09-07T19:33:43Z")
So you do, at least, now know that it’s not just an issue with the board specifically, since it happens at other sites, too. That’s a start. ---
**Author:** ![Mersavets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boldface-and-italics-in-posts/79441/18 "2001-09-08T02:52:48Z")
Hah! Just realised where the random space occured in my last post. Anyway, I’ve posted at a couple of other boards but this is the first place where this has happened. I only just discovered the issue with the catalogues the other day. The worst part is that the particular system I’m talking about doesn’t support booleans in the usual way. I should be able to enter my query and then add an OR operator. That way, the junk character will be added after the OR operator and I will still get results. Instead, I have to search for each term and then use checkmarks to combine the results of each of my searches. So each search has to be clean and exactly what I’m after. I just don’t understand why others using the same version of Netscape on Macs don’t have the same problem. One of my flatmates claims the computer has been doing weird things ever since I installed Cyrillic scripts and a Russian keyboard. Duh! Like printing all the Rs and Ns bak to front? Then again, she believes in Creationism so I guess there’s one possibility we can safely eliminate.n