Formatting text

[bibblebub]

Instead of a user having to type in a combination of brackets and letters to get italics in their question/answer text, why not have a small button sited above the text box, next to the Youtube URL box, just like you get in a word processor. With the space available you could have several - bold, italic, underline and maybe a couple of colours.

Lots of people use a word processor or text editor and so would readily understand how use such formatting buttons.

[venator]

Do we really need all this?

Many of us here have spelling and grammar problems without having to contend with formatting and smileys... ☺ ☺ ☺

[bibblebub]

Forget smileys, who cares about them, but you don't have to use formatting if it were available but there are times when it would come in useful. I would definitely use formatting to enhance replies to some crossword questions.