There are various features on Reddit that improve user experience on the platform. For example, Reddit gives users an excellent array of customization options when making posts or comments, including quoting, italicizing, crossing through, super scripting, and hyperlinking. This article will focus on italicizing and teach you how to employ this feature in your everyday Reddit use.
Italics, similar to punctuation marks, is a typographical feature that enables and improves the clarity of writing by noting phrases and words that an author has used differently from standard usage. On Reddit, however, most people use italics to quote another user or emphasize some aspect of their post. Italics can be a helpful way to improve your posts’ flavor, and here is how to use them.
Italicizing on Reddit desktop
There is no automatic way to italicize your posts or comments on the desktop version of Reddit, so you have to do it manually. The first step is identifying the post or comment you want to respond to with the quote. After that, click on “reply” below the post, among other options, including “Reply,” “Give Award,” “Share,” “Report,” “Save,” and “Follow.”
Clicking on reply will reveal the text box for you to reply to the comment. Under the textbox, you will find a series of formatting tools to help you format your post. The italics function icon is represented by a curvy letter I, and clicking on it will activate the italics mode in the text box. As such, click on the icon before you begin typing what you intend to italicize for it to take effect. Once you finalize your post, you can click post, or comment, as the case may be.
The text box on the old Reddit version uses something similar to markdown mode, so you have to use special characters instead to apply the italics effect. With markdown mode, you italicize a post by adding “*” to the beginning and end of what you want to italicize. Remember that you can apply markdown mode on the new design if you wish to by selecting it. After applying it, you can also use the same steps to italicize your posts.
Reddit includes a handy reminder of how to use markdown mode on the old version. Click on “Formatting” below the text box to display a series of explanations you can employ to format your text. Remember that the illustrations only describe what you need to do rather than do it, so you do not need to click on formatting once you know how.
Italicizing on Reddit’s mobile app
Italicizing a post also works very similarly on the mobile app version of Reddit. As explained earlier, once you identify the post you want to comment on, click “Reply” below the post to reveal the comment box.
Besides hyperlinking, you must employ the markdown mode steps with the double asterisk to italicize your texts. After composing what you intend to send, simply click “Post” or “Reply” to publish the post, as the case may be.
Mobile website
You can also italicize your posts if you still use the mobile version of Reddit. As you may have guessed, markdown is also active here, so you can only italicize by beginning and ending the sentences you want to italicize with an asterisk. When you are done ensuring you have written all you want to post, click on “Add post” or “Add comment,” as the case may be, to publish your post or comment.
Other than italicizing your text, there are other exciting features you can use to format your Reddit posts. As explained earlier, you can also hyperlink your posts to increase their quality and feel. Hyperlinking your post or comment on Reddit has different functions that make it a vital asset. You can use it to give your post more flavor by referring to an external source or comment. Another importance is that it helps to prevent your posts from looking clumsy due to adding several characters of links on your post. Likewise, it helps to reduce the length of your posts, as hyperlinking a word enables you to avoid pasting the full link on your post.
Here is how to hyperlink your posts and comments on Reddit:
Desktop website
There is no automatic way to hyperlink your posts or comments on the desktop version of Reddit, so you have to do it manually. The first step is identifying the post or comment you want to respond to with the quote. After that, click on “reply” below the post, among other options, including “Reply,” “Give Award,” “Share,” “Report,” “Save,” and “Follow.”
Clicking on reply will reveal the text box for you to reply to the comment. Under the textbox, you will find a series of formatting tools to help you format your post. The hyperlinking icon is represented as an interlinking chain; click on it. This will display two boxes, one for you to input the word or group of words you want to hyperlink, and the other for you to paste the link. After entering the word, phrase or sentence you intend to hyperlink and the link, click “Insert,” and this will automatically enter the hyperlinked word or phrase into the text box.
Mobile app
Hyperlinking a post also works very similarly on the mobile app version of Reddit. As explained earlier, once you identify the post you want to comment on, click “Reply” below the post to reveal the comment box.
Right above the comment box, you will find the hyperlink icon; click on it. This will display two boxes, one for you to input the word or group of words you want to hyperlink, and the other for you to paste the link. After entering the word, phrase or sentence you intend to hyperlink and the link, click “Add link.” This will automatically enter the hyperlinked word or phrase into the text box. The text box will include the link as a bracket behind the text, as the hyperlink feature only activates upon posting.
If you want to test the hyperlinking function, you can try it out by hyperlinking our social listening app, Notifier, in your post or comment.