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Who controls your style guide, and how many other documents have been create using the styles you've described. Consistency is often the key to winning this particular argument. Unless, of course, the reviewer has the authority to dictate the change.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+gregory -dot- sweet=health -dot- ny -dot- gov -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+gregory -dot- sweet=health -dot- ny -dot- gov -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
> On Behalf Of Nancy Allison
> Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 11:09 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Font tussle -- bolding bolding everywhere
>
> Hi, all.
>
> My company's UIs use sentence style capitalization. So, the UI controls
> for setting the reference level are labeled
>
> Ref. level
> Ref. level down
> Ref. level up
>
> I refer to these controls in text by capping each term: "The vial
> controls are Ref. Level, Ref. Level Up, and Ref. Level Down."
>
> I reserve bolding for those UI items that I am telling the user to act
> on directly (select, tap, click, and so on.) But I know one of my
> reviewers is going to come back to me with "make these bold so people
> know they're control names" or even just "make these bold so they stand
> out."
>
> I can explain about the caps setting the names off, I can explain about
> reserving bold for actions, but if my questioner is persistent, I need
> a solid resource to explain why it's bad to have bold type popping up
> all over the page. Am I, in fact, simply going on my personal hunch
> that overapplied bolding is distracting on the page and probably
> reduces readability? Have I simply made up these claims?
>
> I just searched for "do not overuse bold text" and found a few
> articles, but they are very general. They go so far as to say "Bold
> less instead of more." Well, thanks.
>
> Are there any actual readability tests or other source of data
> regarding the effectiveness of varying amounts of bolding on a page? By
> the way, translation costs are not even a factor, since our
> translator's software recognizes and preserves the bolding codes. They
> don't have to be inserted manually.
>
> Thanks for all suggestions.
>
> --Nancy
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