Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
Why all-caps is harder to read in a paragraph
Capitals share one height, so a paragraph loses the word shapes lowercase gives the eye.
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From the opening
Setting a paragraph in all capitals is harder to read because capitals are similar blocks, while lowercase letters vary in height and outline and give each word a sharper silhouette. Continuous reading leans on those silhouettes, and a long run of capitals withholds them. The opening covers word shapes from ascenders, labels are not paragraphs, and capitals also take more width.
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Inside
- Word shapes from ascenders
- Labels are not paragraphs
- Capitals also take more width
- Small caps are a separate cut
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Word-shape cues in lowercase reading
- Reading research on continuous text set in capitals