Don't do BOLD!

1. 92

   Pcunixposted 12 years ago

   I have noticed several hubs recently where the author has every sentence bolded
   
   Yeah, like that.
   
   Folks, I don't know where you got this from, but it is a bad, bad idea.  I stop reading instantly and am unlikely to look at anything else you wrote.
   
   Don't.  It's that simple.

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      Reality Bytesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have put some of my text in bold.
      
      Looking at the hubs now, I agree with you and have removed most of the bold text.
      
      Does that mean you are going to read my hubs now?
      
      

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      Nekomemeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I like titles in bold, that is all, no more.  I think it makes everything a little easier to understand and it looks put-together if done right.
      
      However, using all bold in hubs is lame and too attention-grabbing.  It's like a cheap flashing sign for a bad motel.

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2. 81

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   +1

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      saleheensblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      +1 +1.................+1=100

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         kimberlyslyricsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         + 1,000,000

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   rebekahELLEposted 12 years ago

   excellent advice, as some just don't know when first starting out. my very first hub was more like a blog post written in bold text. when I asked my son to read it (he's a web developer), the first thing he did was call me and said, get rid of the bold text immediately! I didn't know..

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4. 84

   camloposted 12 years ago

   I vaguely remember a Forum thread where a Hubber asked if bold would get their Hubs more noticed by search engine crawlers. Maybe there are people who really believe it will.

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      Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I believe that Googles code has something very close to this in it:
      
      clueless++ if /<b>/;
      clueless++ if /<h1>/;
      clueless++ if allcaps();
      ... # more clueless tests
      
      worthy-- if clueless > 10;

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5. 81

   Mark Ewbieposted 12 years ago

   I SECOND WHAT PCUNIX SAID.  APART FROM THE CODE OBVIOUSLY.
   
   [frame on]<grab ip=modifier>/send spam engine</>[frame off]

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      Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You forgot to make flashing text.  Or rather HP foolishly did not give us the option to utilize that wonderful attention grabbing technique.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         A flashing red caps lock bold page in spinner style english.
         
         It would make it quicker on the hub hopping I suppose.

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         John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         From my experience of selling on e-bay I learnt that failing to include ~0^0~ LOOK ~0^0~  would ensure that no search engine would ever find you whereas including the same numerous times would get the buyers flocking to you.

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            Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            The funny part is that, because many of the most lucrative sales are often made to,um, unsophisticated folk, there is truth to that.

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   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Ditto, Pcunix!
   
   I too simply stop reading and leave the page when there is too much boldface.
   
   But, aside:  what is h1?  (Speaking of clueless )

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      Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      H1 is the largest possible header.   H6 is the smallest.

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         Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         
         
           Omigosh    I actually knew that. Leaky brain.

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   Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

   I usually bold the keyword that matches my title...that is it.

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      camloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Okay, but why?

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   cookibuqposted 12 years ago

   so true. If you're writing in bold and all sorts of fancy lettering as normal print, how will you write the next time you actually wanna catch attention ? Setting fire to the screen is not an option...

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      Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I believe that is possible with HTML5.  I'm not saying you should, just that you CAN.

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         cookibuqposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         hm. interesting. thanks for the warning (:

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   Darn..., HP won't let me do wingdings.

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10. 84

    camloposted 12 years ago

    Now I think of it, I nearly always use bold in the introduction to my Hubs ... Is that a bad thing?

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       Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I don't think so - not if the paragraph is short.  I would not do it on a long paragraph.

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       cookibuqposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       for the whole paragraph ?

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          camloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Just the part that tells the reader what the Hub is basically about. I write in short paragraphs, so it could be more than one ... sometimes.
          They do it in newspapers and magazines, too.

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             cookibuqposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             yup thats ok then

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                camloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Thanks - I thought I'd have to go and change them all.

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    Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

    For me as a reader, it depends on the overall look of the article.  If my initial impression is that the writer is just trying to hammer me with words, or is trying to game the system by trying to be noticed by the spiders, I am immediately turned off, even if the person has something good to say.  I personally would prefer seeing one sentence or phrase in more than one paragraph bolded, if any are bolded at all.  Sprinkled across the Hub, not concentrated.
    
    camlo, I haven't seen your Hubs, so please don't take this personally - you could well be the exception to this - but:  in general, the more bolding, the more vulgar it looks to me.

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       camloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       No, I don't think they look vulgar (I hope), although some of my early ones are a bit scruffy.

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          Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          
          
          Oh, I definitely wouldn't expect anything vulgar-looking from you.

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    Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

    So what about bolding in the forums?
    I find that used strategically (to highlight one or two sentences in an article for emphasis) it can be effective.
    CERTAINLY MUCH BETTER THAN SCREAMING IN ALL CAPS!!!

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13. 68

    lrohnerposted 12 years ago

    I think using bold in moderation is just fine.
    
    I once edited a 500-page training manual where the instructor made liberal use of boldface text. There was so much bold text and it was so distracting it made the manual almost unreadable. And it reeked of the instructor thinking his class participants were too stupid to pick the salient points out of the manual. I tried to tell him the whole "you can lead a horse to water" thing, but finally just gave up.

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    rotlposted 12 years ago

    I wasn't gonna say anything about this earlier, but I just came across several hubs in all bold...  It's like a 500 word title. As bad as bold is, I've also seen all caps and that is worse.

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       rmrposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I almost never read the hubs that are all in bold. It's very distracting and a bit hard on my tired old eyes.
       
       I've seen quite a few of the all caps hubs too, and I'm still trying to decide whether they're worse than the hubs with no caps at all.

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    Toby Hansenposted 12 years ago

    You find some real shockers Hub Hopping.
    
    I went for a Hop this afternoon and found several so called "blog" style hubs completely written in the "like u no. aNd Now i'm like dumpin him cos, Like, yeah you know like woteva" mode.
    
    How do these get on HP in the first place?
    
    I admit to a little bold text here and there in my Hubs, but generally only in capsule titles, or the odd word here and there for emphasis.

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16. 89

    Paragliderposted 12 years ago

    Traditionally, newspapers use bold for the opening sentence or paragraph of an article. I think that works quite well on the screen too. But for the body text, bold should be used very sparingly. Italics emphasise the word when you reach it, but bold grabs your eye before you reach it, which is annoying.

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       camloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, that's what I do on my Hubs.

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          kimberlyslyricsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Ya but your cute so it's kewl!

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             camloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Ah, thanks, Kimberly

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    Audreveaposted 12 years ago

    I think bold has its place. In a long piece,bolding can help guide the eye and hit some of the main points a little harder than flat text alone. It's just a tool though and if you overuse it you lose the impact.
    
    Al bold is pretty hard on the eye. A bit like white text on a black background, it's tiring to read. It also comes off a bit on the aggressive side (to me, anyway).

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