[thelist] Type History (was: Contributions for an article wanted)

on 3/20/00 9:47 AM, Burns, Martin at BURNSM@rbos.co.uk wrote:

> <tip type='typography'>
> The reason why typing ALL IN CAPITALS is that your eye
> relies substantially on the shape of the letters and words
> (ie their up and down profile) to recognise them at speed.
> 
> SO SECTIONS IN ALL CAPITALS are very, very difficult
> to read as your brain has to parse every single letter
> in detail. The longer the section in CAPITALS, the more
> work involved
> </tip>

Woa.

I don't think that's right at all. Studies have shown (the most famous being
Herbert Bayer's research in the 1930's) that people are more comfortable
reading what ever typeface/ capitalization scheme that they have grown
accustom to.

Further more in the history of Typography - There use to be 2 distinct
alphabets - capitals and lowercase. The letterforms of Capitals were design
to be used with other capitals - and generally carved into rock. Lowercase
was the alphabet of ink and paper.

Its only because there has been a long history of war and cultural exchange
that the 2 have become one ...

James.