Wicked Cool

Don't Underline for Emphasis on the Web

When you're writing for the web, bold text and italicized text are the best ways to emphasize a few words at a time. Underlined text is associated with hyperlinks, and non-linked underlining creates unnecessary confusion when visitors encounter it on your website. Don't do this to your readers:

Big Announcement: Everyone needs to know about this very important announcement!

Is that a link on "Big Announcement"? The reader hovers over the words with the mouse, thinking, "I want to know more. Can I click here to get it?" Hmmm... no hand pointer... not clickable... It's definitely underlined, but it's not a link.

This only took a few seconds to figure out, but for a moment your reader was thinking more about the formatting than the message. Don't set your readers up for frustration. Reserve your use of underlining for hyperlinks, and remember that bold and italicized text are best for emphasizing your writing on the web.

Microsoft Word Tip: Track Changes

Did you know that you can track the changes you make to a Microsoft Word document? This is handy if you know you'll be making a lot of changes, or if you're working on a document with someone else, so you can each see what the other has done.  The text you add will show up in red, and other changes will be noted in a red comment box along the margin. Here's how to start tracking changes:

From the "Tools" menu, choose "Track changes."  In addition to turning on tracking, this will open the "Reviewing" toolbar that allows you to accept or reject the changes that have been made to your document.

Seeing red?  To turn off the tracking for future changes, go back to the "Tools" menu and click "Track changes" again.

If you want to get rid of all the comments and red text that are already in your document, go to the "Reviewing" toolbar, click the "Accept Change" icon, and choose "Accept All Changes."

Thanks to Kristine Millard of Lodi Public Library for the tip!