Writing Tip : Underlining: why not to use it

Underlining: why not to use it 

Summary

This article explains why you should avoid underlining.

These days, underlining is almost universally avoided by professional type setters. Why? Well it’s easy to explain. Look at the following underlined text:
    g j p q y , ;
 
The underlining cuts through the tails of the letters and punctuation marks making them harder to read. (The degree to which this is apparent will depend upon the font your browser is using.)
 
In the days of mechanical typewriters, underlining was the only option available for emphasising text. These days, there are many other options: italics, bold face, colour and size.

On the web, there is an additional incentive not to underline for emphasis. People expect underlined text on a web page to be a link. When it isn’t, this leads to confusion.