[inforoots] Bold and not bold

[Jason Scott]

> This is possibly a little removed from the usual posts to the list.

It may be removed a little from the usual, but it's certainly within the 
context of computer history.

> Over the past few decades, we have all read hundreds of articles 
> explaining how computers came to be. Yet most of these articles do not 
> explain the various small intricacies of the internet world.

I dispute this. There are many books exploring everything from histories 
of places like The Well and BBN, as well as books like "Once Upon a Time 
in Computerland" that, via telling the story of the first vendor of IBM 
PCs, gives some insight into the extant environment of computers.

There are actually thousands of articles out there, many of them very 
accessible. For example, here's an excellent one on the use of the "@" 
symbol to demarcate e-mail addresses, or, more accurately, usernames and 
domains:

http://tinyurl.com/68ygwp

But let's get back to your question.

> The reason the subject line changes from bold face to light face is 
> somehow buried somewhere in the computer program. Fine, but my question 
> is how this idea was developed. Someone thought of this angle. Why? 
> This does not seem like the sort of idea that most of us would have. And 
> also, is there a purpose to this beyond the obvious one?
>
> Sorry if my question is a little difficult to understand, but I like to 
> think that most people on this list will understand what I am trying to
> say.

Your question is not difficult to understand at all.

You seem newly amazed at the "bold vs. normal" use of already-read 
material in video interfaces. While I don't have at my hands the exact 
moment of this implementation in, specifically, an e-mail program, I can 
give you some time pointers.

The HP VT100 terminal is introduced in the late 1970s had "Bolding" as a 
option for text. So any post 1980 citations are nice but not "firsts" in 
the common sense, but likely the "mosts", i.e. when things break "wide" 
and a lot of people are using an interface.

There's an excellent article on VT100s here:
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal/dec.html

This also mentions the ANSI X3.64 standard, which is a standard for 
sequences allowing the cursor to move around the screen, do actions, and 
so on:

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal/ansi_x3_64.txt

You mentioned arrow keys, so I thought I'd bring that up.

I specifically recall the IBM 3279 terminals my father used at work at 
IBM had bold to indicate used and unused mail. I don't like linking to 
Wikipedia for stuff, but the links list is useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3270

Remember that Bold has a predecessor in overstriking, making a printer 
head go over the same material twice to make it stand out more. I have 
lots of evidence of this from the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. Point of 
Sale/Call Center terminals have UI implementations going way back as well. 
All of this would be inclined to use a "Bold" or brighter text to indicate 
various states of information. Obviously color comes much later, 
relatively.