{"id":21402,"date":"2026-07-09T11:27:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webaccessibility\/?page_id=21402"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:43:16","slug":"use-bold-and-emphasis-to-emphasize-text","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webaccessibility\/use-bold-and-emphasis-to-emphasize-text\/","title":{"rendered":"Use bold and emphasis to emphasize text"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Use bold and emphasis to emphasize text\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The best ways to emphasize text is to use bold text<\/strong> or emphasized tex<\/em>t<\/em>, never colours or underlined text<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s tempting to bring out all the guns to achieve a task such as making text on a page stand out. For example, if someone really wants you to see this text<\/u><\/em><\/strong>. However there are reasons to not overdo things<\/strong> in this manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolded text is the best way to make text stand out. It doesn’t change the shape or angle of the letters, meaning they are as legible as when not emboldened. The message<\/strong> stands out from<\/strong> other text clearly and in an unobstructed way. Screen readers can be set to emphasize bold text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the emphasized text format – something like this<\/em>, for example – also has a role. For instance, when mentioning the title of a book, like, The God of Small Things<\/em> by Arundhati Roy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, you can outline other text such as an article, like, “Looking Back on the Spanish War” by George Orwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example of poor practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The reason to avoid overdoing the emphasis is that multiple forms of emphasis is that it can make text illegible, for example for users with dyslexia. There is a difference between the legibility of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Important text<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with<\/p>\n\n\n\n

important text<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IMPORTANT TEXT<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of underline and<\/strong> <\/strong>all capitals especially changes the shape of the word, making it harder to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underlining also implies a hyperlink to many users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional benefits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n