POLL: Which method do you use to apply bold and italics?

[Andrew Becraft]

John Wilcox wrote:
> This came up as a possible style standards issue here. Please reply
> off-list, and I'll summarize the results next week. Thanks for your  
> time!
>
> A. Click the B and I buttons, or press Ctrl+B and Ctrl+I.
> B. Select Bold and Emphasis from the Character Catalog.

Or:

C: Create special character formats that indicate the purpose or  
meaning of the text (rather than their intended appearance) and apply  
them.

Taking DocBook as my model, I've created GUILabel, GUIButton, and  
GUIMenu formats -- all bold. Similarly, UserInput and Filename are  
both Courier New italic. Doing it this way, I can change my mind  
about how I want to display these inline text elements without having  
to reapply character formats throughout the document. The same  
applies to single-sourcing. I might want to render elements that are  
formatted the same way in print differently in HTML.

Yes, this means I have more character formats than I might otherwise  
have. No, I'm not using Structure. :-)

Andrew Becraft
Senior Technical Writer
Singlestep Technologies, Seattle