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Emphasis notation in plain-text mail (was Re: Server setup)



On 2021-06-13 at 16:42, Polyna-Maude Racicot-Summerside wrote:

> How do you make the text bold ? The * is enough ?

You don't. How the text is rendered depends entirely on the mail client
the person is using, and potentially on the configuration of that client.

Some clients - including the one I'm using, and apparently also the one
you're using - will interpret *asterisks* as meaning that the enclosed
text should be rendered as boldface; mine also interprets /slashes/ as
indicating that the enclosed text should be rendered in italics, and may
also interpret _underscores_ as meaning that the enclosed text should be
rendered with an underline.

(In principle the same thing could also be extended to -hyphens- meaning
the enclosed text should be rendered as strikethrough, but I don't think
I've seen that in practice.)

Other clients will interpret the asterisks, etc., literally, and will
not apply any special formatting because of them. You can't affect that.


So, in brief: if you want to convey emphasis, feel free to use
*asterisks* or /slashes/ or _underscores_. Some clients will apply
formatting as a result of seeing that; others won't, but the people
reading the text may still interpret the annotations as indicating
emphasis anyway.

I got started using *asterisks* well before I was using a client that
would apply special formatting for them, so I naturally interpret them
as indicating emphasis, even with no special formatting in place; I
expect there are probably many other people out there with the same
conditioning.

-- 
   The Wanderer

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.         -- George Bernard Shaw

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