Forum Discussion
How do we feel about All Caps?
Greetings,
As an ID, I prioritize digital accessibility and therefore avoid the use of All Caps altogether. It slows the reader down by transforming the shape of the word and decreases readabilit...
Reasons to not use all caps for emphasis:
- As you said, it decreases readability.
- Some people might mistake an all-caps word as an acronym or initials. It increases their cognitive load when they have to figure out it's only for emphasis. (In other words, all caps should be reserved for acronyms and initials.)
- All caps has a history of being equated with yelling.
- If the text will be translated, the emphasis will be lost in languages that don't use upper- and lower-case characters.
Other ways to add visual emphasis:
- bold
- italics
- color
- size
Bottom line: I'm with you on this. You're not being rigid; you're aiming for the best overall user experience.
😊
