# Unable to Bold **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 15, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118 "2006-01-15T20:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gommsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@gommsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gommsn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/1 "2006-01-15T20:12:06Z")
Earlier today I responded a couple of times to a certain thread. I attempted to bold the participants username and the page jumped back to the top with nothing changing. Tried a smilie, same result. Anyone have any ideas? I’m using Firefox to which I switched just recently from IE. Someone advised me to clear the cache in Firefox, which I did to no avail. I’m posting this on IE and will try each function below. 🙂 **gommsn** here. Well, I guess the problem is with Firefox. Any wisdom would be appreciated, I really prefer Firefox over IE. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/2 "2006-01-15T20:16:03Z")
**Firefox-posted message** (Firefox updated earlier today) 🙂 The problem must be elsewhere ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/3 "2006-01-15T20:52:31Z")
It sounds like you have Javascript disabled. Go to Edit-\>Preferences-\>Content and check “Enable Javascript.” (I’m using version 1.5, so it may be somewhat different if you are using an older version.) Then reload the page and see if it works. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/4 "2006-01-15T21:06:50Z")
As a workaround, if none of the suggestions work (and I’ve had no problems **bolding** words, and I’m on Firefox too), you can always code bolding manually – like so(remove underscores around the “B”-s: [_b_]Words for bolding[/_b_] Same for smilies – the popular ones have easy mnemonics, too (remove the underscores): :_) for :), ;_) for ;), :\_D for :D. Others are delimited by two colons, like :_rolleyes_: for :rolleyes: , :_confused_: for 😕 , etc… ---
**Author:** ![gommsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@gommsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gommsn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/5 "2006-01-15T22:22:21Z")
> [@rkts](#): > > It sounds like you have Javascript disabled. Go to Edit-\>Preferences-\>Content and check “Enable Javascript.” (I’m using version 1.5, so it may be somewhat different if you are using an older version.) Then reload the page and see if it works. Nope, didn’t work. Java is enabled. I even took your lead and upgraded to the new version and still no luck. The problem is most likely the fact that I’m not “techie” but I like to piss around with things and in my ventures I’ve done something I shouldn’t have. "Wonder what this would do, wonder what that would do, etc… Fortunately, one of my daughters is pretty computer savvy, so I’ll put her on the job. Good thing I’m mostly a lurker. Thank for all the interest. ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/6 "2006-01-15T23:15:27Z")
> [@gommsn](#): > > Nope, didn’t work. Java is enabled. Notice I said Java **script** , not Java. The two are completely separate. Besides a browser setting, the only other cause I can think of is a Firefox extension or some other software that is blocking scripts. You might want to try some of [these](http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_examples.asp) and see whether they work. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/7 "2006-01-16T20:55:46Z")
A similar problem was reported [post=6993211]here[/post]. The solution was changing the text size. That may not be the solution you want, but if it works, at least it’ll help to pinpoint the true problem. ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/8 "2006-01-16T22:39:12Z")
**rowrrbazzle** : That is completely unrelated. The OP of that thread could not see bold text. The OP of this thread cannot use the buttons for inserting things into a post. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/9 "2006-01-16T23:13:12Z")
It’s possibly an FF extension interfering somehow. ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unable-to-bold/340118/10 "2006-01-18T20:52:53Z")
Are you using the Adblocker extension? If so, you need to make sure the boards aren’t on the block list. You probably want only the google syndication on the list, not the Dope. I’d give you specifics, but I’m at work and on IE ☹