Well, it depends. What I do is to mark the text I want to use bold or anything on, then I click on the button I want. It will show up as :[ b, i or u (bold, cursive, underline, depending on which button you click on) ]: Take away :, they are there to show them, many places these disappear.
If you want to change color at the text entirely, like here, you see the change color chooser and select which you want.