Bite the Bullet

I don't think I'm alone when I say that typographical bullets are all kinds of fun to use. These bullet points, or "bullets", are used to introduce items in a list. They are most commonly seen as those adorable little dots, but they also come in other fun shapes. I am intensely fond of them, because they help keep things organized and they promote consistency.

As an admirer of this particular type of glyph, I can't help but to be a little concerned about it being used improperly. I know, I know. I'm probably breaking at least a dozen rules of grammar in this post alone, but bullets seem to be pretty straight forward. I'm still working hard to get to the bottom of this, but I think that PowerPoint templates are a major culprit in this trending grammatical malfeasance. I've noticed the overuse of bullets in PowerPoint presentations a few times. Let's take a look at an example I found recently.

Yikes. This isn't even a list. Well, there is actually a list within the information given, but it is not properly represented by the bullets. This page could have done without bullets or they could have been used like this:

Can damage to habitats be more hidden and subtle than outright destruction and fragmentation?

Absolutely! By Pollution of air and water, caused by the presence of:

• pesticides
• sewage
• fertilizers
• industrial chemicals and wastes
• emissions from cars and factories

This particular presentation was filled with bullets and most of them were misused. Let's look at a few more.

The following page does not contain more bullets. This is
all of the information offered on this particular topic.

I don't think I need to say anything about this one.

It can be confusing to the reader when you use bullets for anything other than lists, because they may be expecting more information (example #2). Even properly placed bullets can be bad if you use them too often. When the reader is bombarded with bullets, they no longer see them as having any significance. There are a few simple rules that one can follow when it comes to bullets:

1. You should be listing something important.
2. You should be able to interchange your bullets with a numbered list.
3. You should avoid using templates if possible, or remove the bullets from templates as you create each slide. 

Bullets can be a great thing when we use them correctly and sparingly. I'll be the first one to admit that they are really fun to use, but sometimes we just need to bite the bullet and save them for when it counts.