✏️ The case for sentence casing in content and design
Sentence casing. To capitalize or not to capitalize - a question I’ve consistently dealt with as a Content Designer, from technical documentation to in-product text and microcopy.
Casing ranges from:
All caps (ALL CAPS)
Mixed case or sentence case (Mixed case/Sentence case)
Title case or camel case (Title Case/Camel Case)
When I had to design a technical documentation style guide and product text style guide in 2022, I had a lot of trouble trying to find references and viewpoints about the topic of sentence casing and how users and content consumers feel about it. Even after looking at tech giants and their style guides, it was inconsistent and seemed to come down to the individual company and their user base needs. With that in mind, I set off to research and wanted answers to the question:
What’s widely considered an industry standard for casing in writing?
Well, I’m here with my journey and how it turned out.
Back to basics
I started with basics that content designers, technical writers, and content managers are taught as the bread and butter of the craft (4):
Check with your users
Do your users have a preference? Have you done design research to back your choices up with data? When we design content, we should be designing from a place of empathy for our users. After all, they are the ones that have to use it. If you haven’t done this, start there and mould a philosophy backed by design research, or check with the product designers at your company to get a feel for their experiences, design ethos, and data findings. This is also useful when you have to justify your style guide choices. (1)Keep it consistent
Consistency is critical for building user trust and creating a familiar learning experience. If you’re at your local market and all of a sudden they change their aisles and aisle signs, that might throw you for a loop and kind of piss you off, especially if you’re in a hurry or not in the mood. You’ll eventually adjust to these changes, but what if, in some alternate ever-changing world, the aisles and their contents keep changing each time you come in? Keep this in mind when creating content experiences. If you don’t have a style guide, I highly recommend making one to create familiarity and consistency to build trust with your users during their learning and user journey. (1)
With this in mind, I dove into a research period.
Specific findings
I’m going to be honest: this was hell. There’s a mishmash of info out there, and sifting through relevant and non-relevant details was ✨a time✨, but here’s what I eventually found:
Mixed case isn’t scientifically easier to read than ALL CAPS, but don’t let that dictate your style choice
It’s a misconception that ALL CAPS is harder to read (2, 3). However, remember that ALL CAPS in the modern-day convey a sense of yelling and are widely considered rude in writing (5, 6).
Do with this info what you will.Title case is arguably dated, as it was used centuries ago to showcase importance in text. However, it’s completely style guide dependent these days (7). Title case can also be painfully confusing when trying to separate nouns and proper nouns (10).
When checking out what big tech does, it’s a hodgepodge and mixed
You can check the style guides of Google and Apple and see they take different approaches to when and how to use sentence casing in their product. This is true even when comparing writing style guides within Canadian institutions (and other countries) (7, 8, 9).
Summary & conclusion
As content designers, we’re striving to make the best content journey and usability experiences for our users, and with that, your style choices should be based on their needs and expectations. I found:
Keep your casing consistent and check with users what they like and don’t like.
There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to mixed and title case usage. They’re both widely used across products and in writing. It comes down to consistency and your product needs.
Avoid all caps, as it’s considered rude and like you’re yelling. There are exceptions, especially if you’re writing button text. Whatever you choose, keep it consistent.
Most examples and references use mixed case as a default writing style to keep with English grammar conventions. I would argue this creates a sense of comfort and familiarity with native English audiences, especially when reading bigger paragraphs and technical documentation.
You guessed it: whatever you choose, keep it consistent.Use title case for company/product names and proper nouns, again, to keep with English grammar conventions and to reduce confusion.
For technical documents, keep true to your UI to avoid confusion. If it’s capitalized in the UI and you're referring directly to the button or product, follow its capitalization to the T to create familiarity for your users.
However, if the UI USES ALL CAPS in an unconventional way, check to see if you can get it revised to mixed case or title case.
That’s it! It’s a messy, inconsistent school of thought, but hopefully, you can use these findings to help create consistency at your company and give users the great content experience they deserve. 🎉
