Wiki source code of Capitals
Version 3.2 by Lizzie Bruce on 2019/06/05 16:43
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1 | (% class="box" %) | ||
2 | ((( | ||
3 | Following this helps: | ||
4 | |||
5 | * **people in a hurry** – words in capital letters are hard to scan and comprehend | ||
6 | * **people who are stressed** – if you're anxious you need content that's easy to read | ||
7 | * **people who are multi-tasking** – capped words are difficult to read | ||
8 | * **cognitive impairments** – easy to comprehend words and sentences carry less cognitive load | ||
9 | ))) | ||
10 | |||
11 | == | ||
12 | Guidance == | ||
13 | |||
14 | Capitalised words are not easy to read for many reasons. We're more used to reading words in lowercase letters, so our brains find lowercase words easier to scan and absorb. | ||
15 | |||
16 | |||
17 | (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H1.Donotcapitalisewholewordsorphrases." %) | ||
18 | [[1. Do not capitalise whole words or phrases.>>doc:||anchor="#1"]] | ||
19 | |||
20 | (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H2.Usesentencecapitalcaseinheadlinesandsubheads." %) | ||
21 | [[2. Use sentence case in headlines and subheads.>>doc:||anchor="#2"]] | ||
22 | |||
23 | (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H3.Usesentencecaseforbuttons." %) | ||
24 | [[3. Use sentence case for buttons.>>doc:||anchor="#3"]] | ||
25 | |||
26 | (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H4.Propernounsareanexception." %) | ||
27 | [[4. Proper nouns are an exception.>>doc:||anchor="#4"]] | ||
28 | |||
29 | [[Usability evidence>>doc:||anchor="#UEC"]] | ||
30 | |||
31 | |||
32 | ---- | ||
33 | |||
34 | === {{id name="#1"/}}1. Do not capitalise whole words or phrases. === | ||
35 | |||
36 | (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H-1" %) | ||
37 | They are harder to read. | ||
38 | |||
39 | |||
40 | === {{id name="#2"/}}2. Use sentence case in headlines and subheads. === | ||
41 | |||
42 | (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H-2" %) | ||
43 | It's easier to scan. | ||
44 | |||
45 | |||
46 | === {{id name="#3"/}}3. Use sentence case for buttons. === | ||
47 | |||
48 | (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H-3" %) | ||
49 | It's easier to scan. | ||
50 | |||
51 | |||
52 | === {{id name="#4"/}}4. Proper nouns are an exception. === | ||
53 | |||
54 | It's fine to capitalise the following: | ||
55 | |||
56 | * names of people, places and things, including buildings and brands | ||
57 | * specified committee, faculty, department, institute or school: Public Administration Select Committee | ||
58 | * names of groups, directorates and organisations: Affordable Housing Action Group | ||
59 | * titles of specific acts or bills: Human Rights Act (but ‘the act’ or ‘the bill’ at second mention) | ||
60 | * names of specific schemes known to people: Right to Buy | ||
61 | * names of wars: World War 1 and World War 2 | ||
62 | * job titles following the person's name | ||
63 | * titles like Mr, Ms, Dr, the Duchess of Cambridge (the duchess at second mention) | ||
64 | * titles of books: ‘Content Design’ | ||
65 | * header cells in tables: Yearly budget | ||
66 | |||
67 | == == | ||
68 | |||
69 | == {{id name="UEC"/}}Usability evidence == | ||
70 | |||
71 | [['The science of word recognition'>>url:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/develop/word-recognition]], Mike Jacobs, 2003 | ||
72 | |||
73 | [[A to Z style guide>>url:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z-of-gov-uk-style]] UK government website | ||
74 | |||
75 | [['How Capital Letters Became Internet Code for Yelling'>>url:https://newrepublic.com/article/117390/netiquette-capitalization-how-caps-became-code-yelling]], Alice Robb, The New Republic, 2014 | ||
76 | |||
77 | [['100 Things You Should Know About People: #19 — It’s a Myth That All Capital Letters Are Inherently Harder to Read'>>https://www.blog.theteamw.com/2009/12/23/100-things-you-should-know-about-people-19-its-a-myth-that-all-capital-letters-are-inherently-harder-to-read/]], S. Weinschenk, 2009 | ||
78 | |||
79 | [['Say hello Writing readable content (and why All Caps is so hard to read)'>>http://www.digitalcookie.com.au/blog/writing-readable-content-and-why-all-caps-is-so-hard-to-read.html]], Marty Friedel, 2015 | ||
80 | |||
81 | [['The science of word recognition'>>http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ctfonts/WordRecognition.aspx]], Mike Jacobs, 2017 | ||
82 | |||
83 | [[‘The Effect of Type Size and Case Alternation on Word Identification’>>url:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1421250?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents]], F. Smith, D. Lott and B. Cronnell, The American Journal of Psychology, 1969. Part-locked: free to access online with MyJSTOR account. | ||
84 | |||
85 | [[‘Case alternation impairs word identification’>>https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758/BF03333407.pdf]] Coltheart, M. and Freeman, R. 2013 | ||
86 | |||
87 | |||
88 | [More sources under the [[Discussion tab on old wiki>>http://readabilityguidelines.wikidot.com/capitals]] – need migrating.] | ||
89 | |||
90 | |||
91 | ---- | ||
92 | |||
93 | (% class="box" %) | ||
94 | ((( | ||
95 | See also: | ||
96 | \\[[Page design>>doc:User centred design.Page layout.WebHome]] | ||
97 | [[Headings and titles>>doc:User centred design.Page titles and headings.WebHome]] | ||
98 | [[Links>>doc:User centred design.Links.WebHome]] | ||
99 | ))) |