Typography Essentials

THE PARAGRAPH66 Initial caps and drop caps

INITIAL CAPS MARK THE BEGINNING of a chapter or an article; drop caps may be used throughout the text to mark logical breaks in the text and to provide entry points for the reader. Drop caps may continue the style of the initial cap or be a variation of it. Drop caps and initial caps continue a long tradition that dates back to the earliest illuminated manuscripts (which often had entire scenes depicted within the counter spaces of the letterforms). There are many options for drop caps and initial caps: partial or full indents, partial or full outdents, tops flush with the body copy, baseline alignment with the first line of body copy, baseline alignment with any body copy, and baseline within the depth ...