icon

[download printable pdf of article (192kb)]

Italic

Traditional italic type should not be used for continuous text for any group of readers. It's more appropriate as a means of emphasising important words or phrases. This is particularly important if body text is in a semi-bold, where the use of bold for emphasis will not be enough. Titles of books etc. should be italicised as in text for general readers.

Remember that the italic versions of most seriffed fonts are very different from their roman equivalents; some would be tough going for visually impaired readers. 'Italic' versions of sans-serif fonts are normally just sloped versions of the roman and should not have the same potential problems.

Capital letters

Text set in capitals is much harder to read than normal-case continuous text. However, one or two words set in capitals do not create reading problems. Because they are bigger, capital letters are easier to see than lower-case letters, so may be suitable for labels.

[previous page] [next page]