Thursday, January 21, 2016

Capital Circus

Good writing sells itself.

   Computers are wonderful devices, and are capable of combining many type sizes and faces, including Roman, Italic and dozens of others, plus underlining and using all capital letters.
   The temptation is gruesome, even to the extent of using colors to "brighten up" the presentation.
   But be careful. Any art amateur can tell you that without enough contrast, readability suffers. So also with using all caps, LIKE THIS, WHEN YOU REALLY WANT THE READER TO FOCUS ON WHAT'S BEING SAID.
  It's like hitting readers over their heads to get their attention. A basic typography principle is that all-capital lettering is harder to read than standard upper-and-lower case type.
   Conclusion: Don't use all caps.

   Likewise, it's possible to use such variations as italic, bold face, underlined and all caps, or even using all at once, plus multiple explanation marks, so you get this: LOOK!!! HOW WONDERFUL  THIS PRODUCT REALLY  IS !!!!!!
   But if your writing is not persuasive, no amount of typographical gimmickry will sell the product. Especially with information, the basic product of journalistic writing.

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