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August 26, 2003 at 5:55 pm #6058Jeff HesterKeymaster
Anyone who’s been online for more than a month and has any experience all with instant messaging, chat or forums knows that using ALL CAPS WHEN YOU TYPE is the written equivalent of shouting.
Well there are some very good reasons for turning the CAPS LOCK off. Here’s what Western Michigan University says about it:
Quote:quote:ALL CAPSPerhaps the most frequently violated rule of readability involves the use of ALL CAPS (capital letters). Designers are often drawn to all caps because it forms neat, uniform, visual elements, or “blocks.” Unfortunately, for precisely that reason, type set in all caps is more difficult to read.
Your brain does not recognize words solely on the basis of specific letter combinations, but on the overall shape of the words. In fact, your brain recognizes whole phrases based on letter shape rather than identifying individual letters and words. Which of the following is easier to read: GOOD OLD DOG or good old dog.
For readability, avoid all caps even in heads and subheads. The most readable headlines and subheads are set only with the first letter of the first word (and proper nouns) capitalized, just as in sentences.
They put it politely. Personally, I think it makes the author look like a raving lunatic at best, and more often a psychotic moron. Using all caps is ugly, hard to read and makes me want to ignore everything the author has to say.
I’m not alone.
Here are a few more resources for you to pass on to the CAPS-LOCK fans that are still out there:
- Writing in All Caps is Like Shouting – About Email Tip
- Hints for Typography Choices – Georgia Tech
- Why Are Caps Difficult? – EnglishClub.com
I could go on, but what’s the point? Using all caps in your message is the surest way to get ignored.
August 26, 2003 at 6:07 pm #56457darkc0neMemberSo if someone posts in all caps should we ask them not to and if they say “NO, I LIKE CAPS!!” we dont answer them? Seems like it would work well enough.
August 26, 2003 at 6:52 pm #56439tangledlisaMemberI’d much rather see all CAPS than someone using slang all the time. Cuz to b4 real its hard to read for us simple folk.
August 26, 2003 at 7:08 pm #56430Jeff HesterKeymasterQuote:quote:Originally posted by browneyes078I’d much rather see all CAPS than someone using slang all the time. Cuz to b4 real its hard to read for us simple folk.
Ah, but that’s a whole different problem, isn’t it? I’ll save that for my next rant! 😮
August 26, 2003 at 7:52 pm #56456darkc0neMembersee….we need to have a rant about useing both caps and slang
cuz then you get posts like this..”WARE CAN I GT DEAD AIM 4 FRE???”
makes me want to break somthing….or someone:mad:August 26, 2003 at 8:55 pm #56450ShadowSlayer469MemberThank God Jeff, its about time some one said something about this! I also disagree with short hand(GTG, TTYL, etc…), but you cant really stop people from using it.
Now I don’t know much about ASP, or Snitz, but mabe something could be added to the bad word filter to force all of the posts to be in lower case. I think there is a way to do that in My SQL if your running on Linux, but I don’t remember. Don’t take my advice if it would be extremely hard. Besides, not to many people post in CAPS. And I would check in the Snitz MOD forum and see if it has already been made.
August 26, 2003 at 10:46 pm #56466UKorbustMemberI hate it when people post all in CAPS! What exactly is the point of posting in all CAPS? Is is to try to make yourself look as stupid as you can? I would only expect immate kids to do things like this, its just not right. And I disagree with short hand too ShadowSlayer, I just cant stand it.
August 27, 2003 at 12:27 am #56436FaizanMemberShadow Slayer, the link you put above is for people who need help “installing” a MOD, the one which has MODs is called: MOD Add-On Forum (W/Code)
And to stay on topic, YUP I ALSO HATE PEOPLE WHO TYPE LIKE THIS.
August 27, 2003 at 1:12 am #56459slntOPSMemberyse all caps is annoying but personally i think abvriations are good there quicker for me and after a while they become natural.
August 27, 2003 at 10:32 am #56437DJHyperbyteMemberQuote:quote:Originally posted by slntOPSyse all caps is annoying but personally i think abvriations are good there quicker for me and after a while they become natural.
Don’t tell me you are one of those people who abbreviate “you” to “u” and “to” to “2”. I hate people who type “u” instead of “you”. If you can not take the time to type those two letters extra you don’t have enough patience to do something useful with a computer and should not be allowed to have one.
August 27, 2003 at 12:15 pm #56458slntOPSMemberwell 2 bad, i do and i do have patience with a computer just not for typing on one.
August 27, 2003 at 12:51 pm #56465UKorbustMemberQuote:quote:Originally posted by slntOPSwell 2 bad, i do and i do have patience with a computer just not for typing on one.
Sorry but I would have to say that DJ is right, how much harder is it to type “to” instead of “2”? It is much better to learn correct typing skills now then to have them all messed up later on in life. I also know that reading “2” instead of “to” is much harder, just like using all CAPS. But Jeff says that he will save slang for his next rant, lets get back to the topic. Why would any one want to type in all CAPS in the first place? We all know it is harder to read, and it is just plain ugly.
August 27, 2003 at 2:05 pm #56451BookieMemberI agree with you guys that all caps drives me nuts. I also get annoyed at the people who type in all lowercae and don’t use any punctuation. They go on and on and on for several sentences and you can’t tell what they’re talking about.
August 28, 2003 at 1:38 am #56435FaizanMember“One More Thing, I Also Hate People Who Type Like I Just Did.”
Its even harder to understand. I had an experience with a girl who always typed like she did not know englsih at all, even though she was english. I once did a post about these kind of people in “IM in Education”, here is my post in the topic:
IM increases typing speedEdit: Typo
August 28, 2003 at 5:03 am #56452TigerbladeParticipantQuote:quote:Originally posted by BookieI agree with you guys that all caps drives me nuts. I also get annoyed at the people who type in all lowercae and don’t use any punctuation. They go on and on and on for several sentences and you can’t tell what they’re talking about.
it’s not necessarily the all lowercase (i do all lowercase, in case you didn’t notice) but the lack of punctuation that gets really annoying. when you can’t tell where one sentence ends and the next begins, that starts to be really, really irritating.
“so and then i did this and then went to this place with this guy and we had fun for so long it was like so totally cool then we went to the other persons house to do this and that until bob showed up then it got even funner to do this and brad was over by jenny this one guy asked me a question and i was like so totally”
THAT is horrific to try to interpret
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