Can someone point me to a study that answers this question; Does ALL CAPS help or inhibit usability in navigation? I read one article by Jakob Neilson that touches on this saying "Reading speed is reduced by 10% and users are put off by the appearance of shouting." but I could not find the actual study that proved it. Thanks all!
+1
A:
I'd also add my personal observation that CAPS TEXTS pull unnecessary more attention to them, increasing their relative weight on a view and leaving the other elements less weight.
So if a user glances a look at an interface it will immediately see the most important elements with less probability.
In short: don't overuse CAPS.
Developer Art
2010-09-01 15:47:51
Hey, I notice it too. I paused by **CAPS TEXTS**. This is a small detail that really makes difference :)
Lekensteyn
2010-09-01 16:13:51
I totally agree.
chainwork
2010-09-01 20:38:37
+8
A:
Much of the research done was some time ago and is not easily available on the web. Look at
http://www.stcsig.org/usability/topics/readability.html
Specifically for capital letters, see this:
Schriver, Karen in Dynamics in Document Design, page 275:
"When text is set in all capital letters, reading speed is slowed about 13 to 20 percent (Breland & Breland, 1944). Reading speed is optimal when uppercase and lowercase letters are used (Poulton, 1967; Rickards & August, 1975). When extra emphasis is needed, bold has been found to be a better cue than uppercase (Coles & Foster, 1975)."
You can use Amazon's "Search Within the Book" with a portion of the above quote to see the full page: http://www.amazon.com/Dynamics-Document-Design-Creating-Readers/dp/0471306363/
patrickmdnet
2010-09-01 16:01:00