These types of formatting can cause accessibility barriers to people with print disabilities. We have to be careful when we retain this type of formatting.

When we do keep Bold or Italics we use the Styles, and not direct formatting (via the toolbar).

• Emphasis style (italics) - this translates to the <em> tag in XML
• Strong style (bold) - translates to the <strong> tag in XML

If we need to use strikethrough or underline, this will be one of the rare occasions when we use direct formatting.

Italicized text can create accessibility barriers for a lot of users who find it difficult to read. Blocks or paragraphs of italicized text are particularly problematic, and italics should be removed from these sorts of sections. In general, italics (or the <em> tag) should be removed unless they are used to convey important meaning, like if the text needs to be vocally stressed, or a change of voice, or tone like a thought, or dream sequence, or a similar divergence from the main narrative. Stage directions (in plays) are another case where we’d use the Emphasis Style. Whenever there is what they call a “semantic significance” behind the emphasis then it would usually be appropriate to retain it.

Remove Italics from:

• paragraphs or blocks of text
• Full sentences and long phrases (unless a thought or dream sequence.)
• titles (books, movies, etc.)

Leave Italics in place when:

• they are used to convey important meaning:
  • In the sentence “I never said she stole my money.” Depending on which one of the seven words you emphasize, the sentence can have seven different meanings!
  • Poetry (ask Production Coordinator)
  • Thoughts
  • Dream Sequences

Remove bold from the text unless it conveys important meaning, such as poetry.

Bold text (or the <strong> tag) should be used to indicate importance, such as when making imperative statements or using signal words like 'warning' and 'alert'.

It can also be used for character names in plays. See the section on Plays for more information.

Underlined text should be removed from the text unless deemed necessary. Underlines often present an accessibility barrier for users and people often confuse the text for links. If underlined text needs to be retained (e.g., in a poem where it conveys important meaning), use direct formatting.

If strikethrough text needs to be retained (e.g., in a poem where it conveys important meaning), use direct formatting.

WCAG 2.0 - H49: Using semantic markup to mark emphasized or special text

Q: In Butter Honey Pig Bread, there are a number of emails and letters utilized as part of the narrative. In the ebook, the letters are formatted with italics, however the emails do not have any distinct formatting.What is the best approach to reformatting these sections. Should I apply quote style or leave without formatting?

A: You can apply quote format to these sections.

Q: In Joy of Cooking, some sections include methods of cooking which are formatted as shown in this image:

With the beginning of the sentence describing the method bolded and italicized (To prepare a water bath; to test baked custards for doneness; to cook custards using an immersion circulator). Should these be formatted in any special way?

A: You can remove the styling from those phrases as they styling is just for visual purposes and adds not additional meaning to the text. When someone reads the text, they will understand what it is saying without the extra styles. We want to avoid using bold and emphasis where ever possible as it can create accessibility errors.

Q: In the book "What the Bible is All About", there is a sort of mnemonic that I'm unsure how to format. It's in chapter 45 on page 508 when I view it in Adobe Digital Editions. It displays as follows:

Forsaking

All

I

Take

Him

So, it looks like a list but isn't really a list. And it has the first letter of each word bolded to show that they spell "Faith". For now, I have left it with each word on a separate line but not as a list and I applied Strong style to the first letter of each word to mimic how it appears in the book. Do you think there's a better way to handle it?

A: The way you handled this is correct. You don't have to format this as a list, and keep the first letter in strong style. Good work!

Q: One more question regarding There be Pirates. This is juvenile non-fiction book that utilizes a glossary to define unfamiliar vocabulary. Through out the text, these vocabulary words are highlighted in bold to indicate they can be found in the glossary. Would it be best to leave these words without formatting, or use emphasis?

A: You can leave it as bold style.

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