Editor,

I do not agree with the recent changes in the Opinion Page of your newspaper.  In the past, the letter writer's name and where they lived was featured in bold print at the bottom of the letter.  This method has successfully drawn the reader's eye to the writer's name and location for many years.

Now you are printing the name and town in italics--not bold--causing it to be overlooked.  Italisized information at the end of editorial pieces is useless, only giving us the author's address and phone number.  Italics visually train us to skip this information. 

Placing writers' names in italics has a similar effect; our eyes tend to gloss over words after the final paragraph.  Italics, while elegant, do not pull our eyes away from the thousands of characters on the page that are vying for our attention.  A bold-faced word is a confident word, and announces its presence with much pride.  "Here I am.  Read me," bold print seems to say. 

Italics at the end of editorial pieces turn words into window shoppers, "Oh, I'm just looking.  Ignore me."   

Finally, the change in style does nothing to improve the aesthetic value of the page.  It lessens the effect of the letters and serves no purpose.  I can only conclude the new font enhancements were done because you were bored. 

And that is no reason to change a system that already works.  May I suggest a compromise: a simple bold/italic combo.  Like this one:

Ryan Arey