Re: [groff] 01/04: nroff(1): Fix style and content issues.

[Werner LEMBERG]

>>>> + Set "@address@hidden", "groff", "grotty", and "locale"(1) in italics,
>>>>   not bold or roman.
>>> [...]
>>> > -.B @address@hidden
>>> > +.I @address@hidden
>>> 
>>> I think these particular B -> I changes are wrong and ought to be
>>> reverted.

I agree with Ingo.  Since ages such items have been tagged with
boldface in most manpages.

>>> The fundamental rule for syntax elements (somewhat simplified) is
>>> that bold is for syntax elements that have to be typed verbatim
>>> (like command line options, keywords, type specifiers, function
>>> names, ...) and italics/underlined is for placeholders for syntax
>>> elements that the user has to replace by something else (like
>>> function argument placeholders, command line argument
>>> placeholders, ...).
> 
>> In a synopsis, yes.

Please bear in mind that most people read manpages not on paper or
with a PDF viewer but on terminals.  Regarding the `distractness
factor', it hardly makes a difference whether you look at bold or
underlined text.  Other man page readers like the one in the Midnight
Commander (mc) use colours instead (yellow for boldface, red for
italics).  As Ingo says: only placeholders get italic, the rest gets
bold tagging.


    Werner