Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

Or was this always only a thing of Netscape Mail & Newsgroups and/or
Mozilla Thunderbird?

https://kb.mozillazine.org/Plain_text_e-mail_-_Thunderbird#Structured_Text
_ This page was last edited on 20 December 2016

--
Originally posted in eternal-september.test with interesting discussions.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 21 Feb 2026 10:02:35 +0000, Erin wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

Or was this always only a thing of Netscape Mail & Newsgroups and/or
Mozilla Thunderbird?

If I do that kind of thing, I use Markdown syntax so that I have future options to format it.

--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sa 21 Feb 2026 at 10:02, Erin wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

I can see it rendered as such in gnus on emacs.

'Andreas

--
ceterum censeo redmondinem esse delendam

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2/21/26 03:02, Erin wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

Or was this always only a thing of Netscape Mail & Newsgroups and/or
Mozilla Thunderbird?

https://kb.mozillazine.org/Plain_text_e-mail_-_Thunderbird#Structured_Text
_ This page was last edited on 20 December 2016

I use it, but I'm an old-timer.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-02-21, Erin <erin@home.invalid> wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

Or was this always only a thing of Netscape Mail & Newsgroups and/or
Mozilla Thunderbird?

I'm reading this with slrn. It showed your *bold text* in blue,
your /italic/ in pink, but otherwise unchanged. Your _underlined_
text, however, was shown in cyan and underlined.

Whether the colours show or not, it is a nice way to add emphasis
to plain-text messages - if used judiciously, of course.

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Erin wrote this screed in ALL-CAPS:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

The colors show up in slrn.

The various levels of quoting also show up in different colors and
in normal vs boldface in slrn.

Or was this always only a thing of Netscape Mail & Newsgroups and/or
Mozilla Thunderbird?

https://kb.mozillazine.org/Plain_text_e-mail_-_Thunderbird#Structured_Text

_ This page was last edited on 20 December 2016

--
Touch tone phones only.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> writes:

On Sa 21 Feb 2026 at 10:02, Erin wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

I can see it rendered as such in gnus on emacs.

Interesting. I use gnus, and I see Erin's line with asterisks, slashes, and underscores...

--
Rich Alderson news@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-02-21, Stefan Ram wrote:

Erin <erin@home.invalid> wrote or quoted:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:
This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

Looks like the major plain text specs, say Markdown and ReStructured
Text, all swear by the asterisk "*" for italics. That is an abomina-
tion! For the language I am cooking up I stick with "/" for italics
- naturally.

When is that? Could it be that it's really interpreting * as "emphasis"
and rendering as italic for print? Or is it also rendering it as italic
for on-screen display?

(Maybe these days of higher resolution make italic on screen more
usable, say, like maybe serif fonts might be now acceptable on some sort
of high-resolution displays?)

Actually, this post was already formatted by my own markup system,
which did the paragraph wrapping and English hyphenation for plain
text.

--
Nuno Silva

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Chris Ahlstrom wrote this screed in ALL-CAPS:

Erin wrote this screed in ALL-CAPS:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

The colors show up in slrn.

The various levels of quoting also show up in different colors and
in normal vs boldface in slrn.

Also you can configure the colors of various elements.

Or was this always only a thing of Netscape Mail & Newsgroups and/or
Mozilla Thunderbird?

https://kb.mozillazine.org/Plain_text_e-mail_-_Thunderbird#Structured_Text

--
Men freely believe that what they wish to desire.
-- Julius Caesar

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sa 21 Feb 2026 at 19:21, Rich Alderson wrote:

Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> writes:

On Sa 21 Feb 2026 at 10:02, Erin wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

I can see it rendered as such in gnus on emacs.

Interesting. I use gnus, and I see Erin's line with asterisks,
slashes, and underscores...

Maybe it is because of the font? Or I cam see it because I have
mm-decode loaded? I don't know.

'Andreas

--
ceterum censeo redmondinem esse delendam

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> writes:

On Sa 21 Feb 2026 at 19:21, Rich Alderson wrote:

Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> writes:

On Sa 21 Feb 2026 at 10:02, Erin wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

I can see it rendered as such in gnus on emacs.

Interesting. I use gnus, and I see Erin's line with asterisks,
slashes, and underscores...

Maybe it is because of the font? Or I cam see it because I have
mm-decode loaded? I don't know.

Perhaps it is the font. I'm using GNUS and I see the italics and underlines but
I see the asterisks around 'bold text'. My default font is bold.

--
Dan Espen

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> writes:

On Sa 21 Feb 2026 at 10:02, Erin wrote:

Do we still use "Structured Text" as in:

This is *bold text*. This is /italic/. This is _underlined_ text.

I can see it rendered as such in gnus on emacs.

'Andreas

I'm in gnus and the italic appears as highlighted. Underlined shows as
green fonted, and bold is bold but surrounded with *

What did you do in gnus to see the formatting?

D

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)