I recently read a story about a woman in New Zealand who was fired from her job as accountant with no warning. Her offense? Sending confrontational emails. Confrontational in what way? “…Words in red, in bold, and in capital letters.”
Capital letters? CAPITAL LETTERS?
You may not be aware that capital letters, or “all caps”, is the universal way to scream and shout at people in print, over email, or on the internet. Want to get a point across? USE ALL CAPS! Want to be courteous and professional? Don’t use all caps.
Needless to say, it’s probably not a good idea to scream at your congregation when projecting lyrics. Check out this sample of an all-caps first verse of “How Great is Our God.”
A few things stand out to me:
- Yes, it does seem like someone is screaming
- The words take up a lot of space on the screen
- Reading the lines seems like hard work
Now check out the same verse in the standard mixed-case (upper and lower).
- It doesn’t seem like anyone is screaming at me
- The words don’t take up as much space
- It feels more natural to read the lines
You might think all caps looks kind of cool and different. Unfortunately, most people find it really annoying and distracting. Mind your manners on this one and remove that potential distraction while you’re at it.
Worthily Magnify 
But Drudge is all in capitals… Now I don’t know WHO TO BELIEVE!