Adding Bold and Italic Text
Adding Bold and Italic Text in WYSIWYG Editor
Learn how to use bold and italic formatting tools to emphasize important words and improve the readability of webpage content.
What Are Bold and Italic Text?
Bold text is commonly used to emphasize important words, phrases, headings, warnings, or key information. Italic text can be used to provide subtle emphasis, introduce terms, or distinguish certain words from surrounding content.
In a WYSIWYG editor, users can normally apply these styles without manually writing HTML code. The visual editor provides toolbar buttons that allow text to be formatted quickly.
For a broader introduction to WYSIWYG editing, see the WYSIWYG HTML Editor guide .
Using the Bold Button
The Bold button is usually represented by the letter B in the editor toolbar. Select the text that you want to emphasize and click the Bold button.
Example
Normal text becomes bold text after applying the Bold formatting option.
Bold formatting is useful when you want readers to notice important information quickly. For example:
- Important instructions
- Key terms
- Warnings and notices
- Important points in an article
Using the Italic Button
The Italic button is commonly represented by the letter I. Select the desired text and click the Italic button to change its appearance.
Example
Normal text can become italic text when the Italic formatting option is selected.
Italic formatting can be useful for emphasizing a word without giving it the same visual weight as bold text.
Using Bold and Italic Together
A WYSIWYG editor may also allow users to apply both formatting options to the same text. This creates text that is bold and italic.
WYSIWYG Toolbar Example
A typical WYSIWYG editor may contain formatting buttons similar to the following:
This is a sample editing area. You could make a word bold or make another word italic using the toolbar.
HTML Behind Bold and Italic Formatting
Although a WYSIWYG editor hides much of the HTML from beginners, formatting is ultimately represented using HTML markup.
Bold Text
The <strong> element indicates that the content has strong importance.
Italic Text
The <em> element is used to indicate emphasis.
How to Add Bold and Italic Text
- Open your WYSIWYG editor.
- Type or paste your text into the editing area.
- Select the word or phrase you want to format.
- Click the Bold button to make the selection bold.
- Select another word or phrase and click the Italic button.
- Use both buttons together when stronger emphasis is appropriate.
- Preview the content before publishing the webpage.
Best Practices for Text Formatting
- Use bold for important information.
- Use italic for moderate emphasis.
- Avoid making entire paragraphs bold or italic.
- Keep formatting consistent throughout an article.
- Preview the page to ensure the formatting looks natural.
Benefits of Bold and Italic Formatting
Proper use of text formatting improves the visual structure of online content. Readers can quickly identify important information when key words are emphasized appropriately.
- Improves content readability.
- Draws attention to important words.
- Creates visual variety in long articles.
- Helps readers scan content more efficiently.
- Makes important information easier to identify.
Related Learning
Learning text formatting is one part of creating content with a WYSIWYG editor. You can explore the main WYSIWYG HTML Editor article for additional information about visual webpage editing.
Summary
Adding bold and italic text in a WYSIWYG editor is a simple way to emphasize important information. Select the desired text and use the appropriate toolbar button. Using these formatting options consistently can make webpages easier to read, scan, and understand.
