[Tex/LaTex] Synonyms for \bfseries and \itshape and such

fontsformatting

Seeing as it is quite confusing for non-TeX expert to know how to specify italic or bold font, and the names such as \bfseries are not straightforward…

Is there a package that defines synonyms like \bold and \italic, so one can just do:

{\bold\italic My text}

If not – why? Just curious.

Best Answer

Provided that no other package defines \bold and \italics and the like, you can include

\let\bold\bfseries
\let\italics\itshape

in your preamble. This would equate the definition of \bfseries with \bold (and others) at the time of call, allowing you to use them as you wish:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\let\bold\bfseries
\let\italics\itshape
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}% Just for this example
\begin{document}
{\bfseries\itshape Here is some text.} \par
Here is some text. \par
{\bold\italics Here is some text.}
\end{document}​

Why have something like \bfseries and not \bold or plain old \bf? For me, Will Robertson's answer to Will two-letter font style commands (\bf , \it , …) ever be resurrected in LaTeX? makes the most sense and is based on the distinction between formatting decisions and content.

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