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Journals by EmailI’ve noticed that lately, I’ve been choosing something other than bold formatting for high-level headings. Sans-serif typefaces like Arial and Verdana are commonly used as headings, and when they get beyond about 14 points, they start looking a little too heavy.
The fact that the heading is in a larger font and is surrounded by white space sets it apart from body text, so bolding can be unnecessary anyway. Instead of bolding, I sometimes like to set headings apart using some additional visual cue like color (which may or may not help, depending on whether you have users that are colorblind) or a graphical indicator. An icon, vertical lines, background shading, or gradients can be part of a heading style and readily suggest to the reader that something is different about that text.
I’ve started to favor these alternatives, and I think they have added to the visual interest of the overall documents.
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5 Comments to 'Alternatives to Bolding Headings'
March 15, 2009
Is the word “bolding” correct? The adjective forms of the word are “bold·er and bold·est”, adverb form is ‘boldly” and the noun form is “boldness”.
Do techncial writers have the freedom to use words not found in dictionaries or not commonly used?
March 17, 2009
I was using it informally as a verb. This is a blog, not a technical document, therefore granting more freedom (one of the attractions of having a blog).
March 19, 2009
Whether it is a technical document or a blog, the word ‘bolding” is incorrectly used by many technical writers and developers. This word, I feel, is incorrect.
March 20, 2009
Well, you have to pick your battles. I pick mine, as a couple of my more complaint-toned posts attest. I wouldn’t use “bold” as a verb in documentation—I would probably phrase it something like “apply bold formatting.” But you never know where language change will take us in spite of our most stubborn resistance.
March 27, 2009
Color doesn’t work as well when you print most of your PDF documents from a B&W printer.