12 replies to this topic

[Tom Rogers]

Was going to post this to AIBD facebook but apparently it is not used as a forum

 

Curious. In school we were taught to letter in capital lettering. I have done so continuously for the past 25 years whether it is by hand or on the computer. However I see more and more that regular lettering (capital and lower case) is being used. Is there a reason for this or personally preference? Easier when switching from drawings to email or to fit better on page or so it does look like are drawings are "YELLING" :-)What is everyone's thoughts?

[Steve Haarmann]

I always use capital letters.

I completely agree about the hassle of switching between emails and drawings,

It is a real pain to erase a line of all caps and retyping an email !!

In fact I just did this here.

 

I might try a drawing with upper / lower case and see what it looks like.

[Keith Almond]

From Day One of my Architectural Apprenticeship in Britain (in the early 70's), we always used regular Sentence Case (capitals and lower case to suit), personally I dislike the looks of all capitals, and the only time I use it  is when using really small text to fit in cramped spaces.

[Yvon Gonthier]

For plans when it was done by hand, I have always use individual capital lettering. If I write something, I can't even use continuous cursive lettering anymore. But, for typing letters, e-mails. etc..., no I don't use all capitals letters unless I want to emphasize something. Like oyu say, it's considered yelling.

[Tom Rogers]

Steve-I agree with you completely.  I have been thinking of changing myself.  Softplan tends to confuse me a bit too.  While their speed notes are all in capital letters, the names of their electrical symbols are not; so when I try to generate an electrical legend I end up either having to live with a mis match of text (since my custom ones are all capital) or, which is what I normally have to do, is go and edit the legend.  I have now even started going through the long process of renaming the symbols to get it all in order.

 

That is interesting Keith about Britain.  Was that a standard format that is used throughout or just in your office that you were with? 

[Steve Haarmann]

Tom, you certainly got me thinking.

This is definitely a subject that has gotten some people thinking in the Cad world.

 

I googled it and found that all caps is definitely a hold over from the manual drafting days.

Surprisingly there have been many studies done that show that mixed case is easier to read.

Maybe the all caps needs to go the way of the drawing board !

 

I could see using all caps for room names.

These I always pull from speed notes anyway so no typing required.

Other notes (especially longer descriptive notes) could be done in mixed case.

 

The only objection I found relates to scale.

If the correct font size is not used then the mixed case can be very hard to read (i.e. too small) when printed at half scale.

 

I will definitely try one drawing just to see how I feel about it.

[Don Gibbons]

Everything in capitals on my drawings, all the time. It's the way I was taught in high school and was re-iterated to me in college. I tried using a mix, and I didn't like it, it's definitely not for me.

[Keith Almond]

That is interesting Keith about Britain.  Was that a standard format that is used throughout or just in your office that you were with? 

 

I believe it was typically down to the individual designer. Since we were writing most things by hand, a lot depended on the quality of your writing. Most used Sentence case, but some whose writing may have been less legible used all caps.

[Paul Tacy]

On the board since 1968, and now on SoftPlan, ALWAYS all caps.  It was the way I was taught, and I can't imagine changing now.  It just wouldn't look right.  I lost the ability to write in cursive decades ago, always lettering in all caps.

[Tom Rogers]

Only cursive I know is my signature 

[randolph cohn]

ALL CAPS since my first day at architectural university and on the board.

 

on computer use mostly CAPS with a little mixture of lower case for affect

in certain situation or just because i feel like it.

[Kevin Rabenaldt]

Interesting discussion.  I have been drawing plans since early 90's and have an engineering degree (not structural).  I am not trained in architecture and I use mixed.  I always have always used mixed because I like the look.  I Cap certain things like the room names and usually the first letter of each word.  If I need a notation to stand out I will Cap it.  And by the way, I still write in cursive.

[Mark Petri]

I type everything for design (except an occasional note or for effect) and write in all caps. That's the way I was used to it in school and it looks better to me. I strongly dislike cursive and even struggle to write in lower case. Of course, I do not want everyone to think I am yelling at them, so emails, and normal messages and typing is the normal mix of upper and lower case.