Yes, I Can Read You
Yes, I Can Read You
This post doesn't mean to offend anyone, it's more of a curiosity/pet-peeve of mine. Why is it that some people feel the need to type status messages, wall posts, or what-have-you, in all-caps?
A few points about writing in all-caps:
- Writing in all-caps has been known to reduce readability; "words set in all caps have an even horizontal outline with letters of similar shape and size," making it difficult to read.
- When reading an entire phrase in all-caps, it's considered to be yelling or shouting the written text (at least on the internet).
- It takes more work. You either have to hit the caps lock key (which should very well be removed from keyboards), or hold shift the entire time you type. Either way, that's an extra key you have to hold/use.
How about a real world example; take a look at this (click for a larger version):
Compared to this over-the-top version (click for a larger version of this, as well):
Which is easier to read? To me, the latter feels very aggressive, and it does feel like the text is shouting at you.
So, to those of you that choose to write in all-caps, do you have a reason? If so, please leave a comment, I'd like to hear the other side.
Then again, if you prefer to read all caps, feel free to read that way(javascript:document.body.style.textTransform = 'uppercase';).