WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING AT ME?

The Kosher Use of Uppercase: A Brief Case Study

Capitalization has a long and sordid history, but generally a well-known meaning: the use of a Capital Letter places Emphasis on a Word. The stylistic guidelines regarding when it’s proper to use upper case and when not to differ widely from language to language and culture to culture.

HOWEVER, there is a right time and a wrong time to use capital letters.*

The Right Time to Use Capital Letters

Proper names and personifications – Ask yourself these questions:
• Is the word a name for someone you know or a person that theoretically exists (even though you haven’t personally met them)?
• Is it a trademarked phrase or name for a company, brand, or entity?
• Does it refer to a movement that exists in one place only in history, such as the Age of Enlightenment or Postmodernism?

If not, don’t capitalize it.

Titles (before, not after names) – I know it’s tempting to associate capital letters with important people, but technically capital letters are used to emphasize something or someone specific. For example, if you are referring to the president, then it works like this:

Example (right): President and Commander in Chief Barack Obama came to visit us.

But, if you aren’t referring to a specific president, but rather the fact that Obama is a president, you use capital letters like this:

Example (right): Barack Obama, president and commander in chief, came to visit us. (I didn’t make the rules—blame the style guides.)

The beginning of sentences – Here is where I pose the thinking question: Why do you think capital letters are used to begin sentences? Bonus question: Why are sentences that fall after a colon capitalized?**

The pronoun I – Since we are referencing a specific person, ourselves, it probably makes sense that we capitalize it. One does wonder, however, what that says about us and our culture…

THE WRONG TIME TO USE CAPITAL LETTERS

Generalizations, such as specialties listed in a sentence or paragraph:

Example (wrong): The doctors at U of U Health Care specialize in Radiology, Neurosurgery, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

All of these specialties are general specialties (not that they aren’t still special); they don’t refer to a specific person, a trademarked company, or patent, so they should not be capitalized.

Titles after names: 

Example (wrong): Joe Jones, MD, Dean of the Department of Punctuation, requested that students express greater respect for the use of uppercase.

While the Department of Punctuation, since it refers to a specific if fictional department, can be capitalized, the word dean, since it falls after the current dean’s name, refers to the general position of dean, not the Dean Joe Jones himself.

TEXT MESSAGING OR EMAILING IN ALL CAPS WITH YOUR CHILDREN/FRIENDS/CO-WORKERS, EVEN IF YOUR KEYS GET STUCK—THEY WILL THINK YOU ARE SHOUTING AT THEM.

This is a more recent use of capitalization stemming from our ever more frequent messaging with typed symbols to express ourselves as opposed to talking on the phone or in person where our body language can express tone or attitude.

Take a quick browse back over those paragraphs above. Which are easiest to read? Which are More Difficult to Make Out or Skim (a technique we frequently use in reading and not just on the web)?

Conclusion / CONCLUSION

The use of uppercase is a practice to be respected, particularly in formal or business writing. While legalese and, occasionally, bureaucratese can get away with almost everything, we regular peeps must abide by writing style guides to be respected as professionals in whatever sphere we adhere to.

Oh, and if you have a bit of time, read this highly entertaining article about the origins and use of caps lock: I TURNED CAPS LOCK ON FOR A WEEK AND EVERYONE HATED IT via @thisisfusion. It might change the way you type.

*I invite you to enjoy the dramatization—I think it adds to this piece. At least I hope you laugh.

**A: The use of a colon generally indicates an independent clause or sentence (the colon acts as the equivalent of an equals sign); independent sentences are almost always capitalized, except after a semi-colon. (Don’t you love English with all these exceptions and rules and best practices?)

Previously published on Pulse, University of Utah Health Care; used with permission.

5 Reasons Writing for Web Is Different Than Writing for Print

Cover of Writing for the Web Guide
Cover of Writing for the Web Guide

Originally published Sept 19, 2014, on Pulse, University of Utah Health Care’s intranet. Used with permission.

Every medium requires slight adjustments in writing style, tone, punctuation, formatting, and the like. The web is no different. While the current goal of web content specialists is to create content that is device (or it could be said medium) agnostic, the overall style and tone of web writing is far more personable and relaxed than has been the case for print writing. Here are five reasons why web writing is different from writing for print:

1. It’s interactive.

When we visit any page on the web, we do so with the expectation that we can leave the page at any time via hyperlinks or search if we don’t find what we’re looking for. And there, in a nutshell, is the web: we are usually searching for something. While this can be the case with printed material, the web culture demands faster results—pretty much right now.

2. Readers scan paragraphs rather than reading them.

Most readers are either searching for specific content or browsing. As such they tend to scan paragraphs for the information that most appeals to them. Usability tests have overwhelmingly confirmed that this is how we read the web.* If that’s the case, we need to alter our writing techniques to match. We need to include subtitles, catchy first lines, and highlighted areas of importance via techniques like bold text, anchor text for a hyperlink (though this will take your reader away from your page), or bulleted lists.

3. Tone and style are more informal.

There are tons of different articles and pages, even books, on the web, but the writing tone and style that overwhelmingly define it are more informal. This is in part due to how we read articles, but it’s also a product of the intimacy of the web. Web pages have varying levels of credibility due to the democracy of the web: anyone can post almost anything, and many, many pages are personal sites and posts by individuals, which are not vetted through editors or any other sort of accrediting body. This naturally leads to a lighter, more informal style.

4. TL; DR: Shorter is sweeter (most of the time).

Too long; didn’t read. Literally. Readers are turned off by articles that take way too much time to describe something that could be done in a condensed manner. For example that last sentence could have been: “Readers are turned off by articles that aren’t succinct,” or “Readers like short articles.” The general rule of thumb is to cover the subject adequately, but not over the top. Some writing styles lend themselves to the verbose, but know your audience. As a general rule, shorter is sweeter.

5. It’s never finished!

People who spend vast amounts of time on the web innately understand this. News that is updated in real time is valued more for its timeliness than for its definitive nature. This doesn’t mean that content of a more evergreen nature (or always valuable) isn’t an essential part of any site, but rather that updates, corrections, or changes are just as important to the written piece because of the way we use the web.

* http://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-users-read-on-the-web/ Yes, this article is older, but it’s that evergreen sort of content, and from a highly, highly reputable source.