as far as the LARGE TYPE, I fully agree with you.
I find it easier to read as well
Excerpts from a study titled "Effects of Email Format and Instructions on
Reading Times, Content Retention, and Reader Preference"
(
http://hubel.sfasu.edu/courseinfo/SL03/email_study.htm):
The shape of a lower case word provides significant clues to the reader as
to its identity, whereas a word in all capital letters has a destroyed shape
(no ascenders or descenders), so the word appears to be rectangular
(Williams, 2000). When unable to use previous experience and knowledge of
word shapes, reading time slows as a result of slowed processing. Upper case
type is read about 13 percent slower than lowercase type (Tinker, 1955 as
cited in Williams).
Additional problems arise when reading text presented in exclusively capital
letters due to the amount of similarity between these letters... ...Their
study showed more effort was required to decipher the differences between
two capital letters, because they are more similar to each other (have fewer
distinguishing features).
Finally, upper case letters are simply larger than the corresponding
lowercase letters. With each eye fixation, a limited amount of material can
be resolved, recognized, and used to guide the reading process. Letter
distinctions can be made for four to six letters from the fixation point,
but seven to fourteen letters away could be useful for planning the next eye
movement, or saccade (McConkie & Rayner, 1975 as cited in Bailey et al.,
2003). Thus, the size of the text can influence the efficiency with which
the visual system combines previous information with current information and
plans to incorporate new information by controlling eye movements.
Interruption of this process with the introduction of difficult-to-read text
may influence the frequency of eye movements and could ultimately affect
reading speed.
And from
http://www.onlinenetiquette.com/courtesy1.html :
Below are the online basics you need to minimally become familiar with in
order to be taken seriously in your online communications.
1.. Do not type in all caps. Typing in all caps is considered yelling or
screaming online. Those who type in all caps are perceived as lazy and not
being considerate of those who will have to read their e-mail. Various
studies on the topic reflect that it is more difficult and takes longer to
read text that is typed in all caps. And for those who question "What
studies?" here is one example for your reading pleasure:
http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~muter/pmuter1.htm
Searching for words is faster with uppercase characters, but reading of
continuous text is slower (Vartabedian, 1971), perhaps because interline
masking is greater with uppercase (Nes, 1986). In addition, lowercase
enhances reading efficiency because word shape is helpful in word
recognition (Rudnicky & Kolers, 1984).
One is free, at their convenience, to review the entire document above
which goes into detail about how eyes react to what they have to read based
on how the content is presented.
Stating certain professions are required to type in all caps (that's the
first time I've heard that one) does not jive either. Would you send any
off-line communications in all caps - the answer is probably no.
NOTE: It should go without saying, however, since I was chastised for not
saying so, this rule certainly doesn't apply to the vision impaired or to
those who are disabled or handicapped and cannot use the shift key. However,
since typing in all caps is considered yelling online, it would behoove
those who do so because of these reasons to take the time to include a brief
note why they are typing in caps so that their e-mails and intent are not
misinterpreted.
