headline styles: inital cap verse sentence case
Tuesday, 3 April 2007 @ 13:41In preparation to defend the establishment of sentence case headlines in our corporate style guide, I collected the following quotes:
From James Felici, author of The Complete Manual of Typography:
In English publications, up-style, or headline-style, titles and headlines are considered more formal and emphatic, and down-style, or sentence style, headlines are more informal and conversational. Nevertheless, outside the English-speaking world, the down style is more common.
From Donald Young, author of Fonts and Logos:
…upper and lowercase can be the most distinguishable forms but not necessarily the most legible, not as good of flow.
From Seth Taylor:
The main thing about sentence case is that is allows the focus to be on the proper subject. Initial caps distract the proper emphasis of the message and clouds understanding.
The fundamental components driving our style—simple, innovative, dynamic—convey an informal, approachable, exciting, and trusted feeling. We are not stuffy, sophisticated, or formal. We are the exciting new world of online commerce. Thus, working to communicate this message, to increase usability (sentence case is easier to read and does not obscure the subject—consider how proper nouns loose their standard special attention when every word is capitalized), and as a connection to technology and the web, sentence case headers were chosen.
The resisting party’s argument against the style is that sentence case is improper, non-standard, and obscure. I challenge that position as being narrow-minded and foolish in the same manner that continuing to insert a double white space between sentences is in a time well beyond the monospaced fonts of typewriters. Just because something used to be done a particular way, even for an excellent reason, that does not mean that that is still the optimal solution. I am not suggesting that initial cap headlines are somehow now taboo; there are many formal and elegant solutions where it may actually be the desired look. With abundant graphical and typographical options at our disposal however, we now have the luxury of increasing the legibility and usability of our headlines and I believe that there are many superior solutions to the task of properly setting a headline.
I am also not suggesting that one rock the boat by ignoring styles and standards unique to specific disciplines, industries, or corporations without careful consideration. I am advocating an actively conscious approach to that which we create. Consider the reasons for the solution you implement and employ that which is optimal, whether that be something traditional or something revolutionary.
Nice diatribe, but where are the examples? ;)
Well, I was trying to keep it generic. My interest is in the subject and not the actual parties involved. I am criticising the position, not the person. My purpose for posting it here was because it was something that I felt could benefit the community and because I was interested in other’s thoughts on the matter.
Well, I generally use title case for headlines in documents. Often time, depending on the size I will do all caps.
I don’t know about the position, but I we try to generally follow universal AP and Chicago style.
Here is a list of news publications that use sentence case:
Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, CNN, MSNBC, Engadget, Ars Technica, Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune
I do hesitate in offering examples however, as I fear of being misunderstood for suggesting that sentence case be superior because it is some sort of new trend. That would be just as bad as using inital caps because one considers it the standard.
I am trying to think of some examples that I have been doing recently:
- “Orientation & Training”
- “3-Day Training”
I think examples would be great. I honestly think that either way is fine, and that you could argue that you use one version, or the other because it is your ‘brand.’ Stylistically, I do some type treatments because for a particular font, in a particular size and weight, they simply look better.
For sub-headings in a document, I may use all ALL CAPS bold weight, though the ‘standard’ may be to use proper case or title case.
Here is an example:
Improve your business with tools in our Business Center.
Improve Your Business with Tools in Our Business Center.
The first is easier to read and it is much easier to focus on the subject. The point of the headline is to advertise the Education Center and it stands out much more in the first. In the second, everything receives equal emphasis; well, except “with” and “in,” but why aren’t they capped? why is “your” capped and “with” isn’t? I don’t have the answer; initial cap is illogical to me.
Well I can provide an answer for why ‘our’ is capped, and ‘the’ isn’t—no matter what, you never capitalize prepositions. Thus ‘in,’ ‘out,’ ‘on,’, ‘around.’ etc. should never be capped.
I can see your logic, and honestly I think that is a branding perspective. We follow AP rules for most things, because our communication teams does the writing.
Having just reread my post I realized that I could ad some clarify by mentioning that my post here is solely in reference to headlines and not headers (or titles), as there is a difference in the functionality and purpose of the two.