Readability and Legibility of Small Caps

Pull quotes and captions are sometimes set with small caps, but keep in mind that small caps are no easier to read than all caps. Since every word in all caps is a rectangle, our eyes have to resort to reading letter by letter. This does not mean you should never use all caps or small caps—just be aware of this limitation and use them when you can justify the loss in readability and legibility. The more text there is in all caps or small caps, the less likely it is that people will read it.

Do you find that, even though the text is interesting, you have to struggle to stay with it? Small caps are no easier to read than all caps.

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