Editing All caps (section)

{{short description|Text with all capital letters}}
{{for|the songs|All Caps (Madvillain song)|All Caps (Weathers song)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
[[File:LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard Nameplate.jpg|thumb|The name of the railway engine ''[[LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard|Mallard]]'', set in all capital letters]]
In [[typography]], text or font in '''all caps''' (short for "'''all capitals'''") contains [[capital letter]]s without any lowercase letters. For example: {{blockquote|THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG.}} All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, [[advertisement]]s, newspaper [[headline]]s, and the titles on book covers. Short strings of words in capital letters appear bolder and "louder" than mixed case, and this is sometimes referred to as "screaming" or "shouting".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.fonts.com/AboutFonts/Articles/SituationalTypography/AllCaps.htm|title= ALL CAPS: To set or not to set?|author= Ilene Strizver |year= 2011|work= Fonts.com|publisher= Monotype Imaging|access-date= 21 June 2011 }}; {{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/technology/04link.html?em&ex=1202274000&en=dfad4f3ac1f773cf&ei=5087%0A|title=Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC?|last=Cohen|first=Noam|date=4 February 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 January 2011|quote=Jason Santa Maria, creative director of Happy Cog Studios, which designs Web sites, detected a basic breach of netiquette. 'Hillary's text is all caps, like shouting,' he said.}}</ref> All caps can also be used to indicate that a given word is an [[acronym]].

Studies have been conducted on the [[Typography#Principles of the typographic craft|readability and legibility]] of all caps text. Scientific testing from the 20th century onward has generally indicated that all caps text is less legible and readable than lower-case text.<ref name="autogenerated62">{{cite book|title= Type and Layout: How Typography and Design Can Get your Message Across – Or Get in the Way|last= Wheildon|first= Colin|year= 1995|publisher= Strathmoor Press|location= Berkeley|isbn= 0-9624891-5-8|page= [https://archive.org/details/typelayouthowtyp0000whei/page/62 62]|url= https://archive.org/details/typelayouthowtyp0000whei/page/62}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Nielsen|first1=Jakob|title=Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes|url=http://www.nngroup.com/articles/weblog-usability-top-ten-mistakes/|publisher=Nielsen Norman Group|access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref> In addition, switching to all caps may make text appear hectoring and obnoxious for cultural reasons, since all-capitals is often used in transcribed speech to indicate that the speaker is shouting.<ref name="All Caps, Butterick">{{cite web|last1=Butterick|first1=Matthew|title=All Caps|url=http://practicaltypography.com/all-caps.html|website=Practical Typography}}</ref> All-caps text is common in comic books, as well as on older teleprinter and radio transmission systems, which often do not indicate letter case at all.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Computing/Capital_Letters.htm |title=Why are military messages in all capitals? |publisher=Alternatewars.com |access-date=2013-01-22 |archive-date=4 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904102043/http://alternatewars.com/BBOW/Computing/Capital_Letters.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://tabmok99.mortalkombatonline.com/spritecomic-tutorial.html |title=Sprite Comics Tutorial |publisher=Tabmok99.mortalkombatonline.com |date=10 December 2004 |access-date=2013-01-22}}</ref>

In professional documents, a commonly preferred alternative to all caps text is the use of [[small caps]] to emphasise key names or acronyms (for example, {{Smallcaps|Text in Small Caps}}), or the use of [[italic type|''italics'']] or (more rarely) [[bold text|'''bold''']].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Butterick|first1=Matthew|title=Small caps|url=http://practicaltypography.com/small-caps.html|website=Practical Typography|access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref> In addition, if all caps must be used it is customary to slightly widen the spacing between the letters, by around 10 per cent of the point height. This practice is known as tracking or letterspacing.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Butterick|first1=Matthew|title=Letterspacing|url=http://practicaltypography.com/letterspacing.html|website=Practical Typography|access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref> Some digital fonts contain alternative spacing metrics for this purpose.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lupton|first1=Ellen|title=Kerning|url=http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/contents/text/|website=Thinking With Type|access-date=29 July 2015|archive-date=14 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414065005/http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/contents/text/|url-status=dead}}</ref>