topic Re: To use Caps or not to use Caps... in Documentation

To use Caps or not to use Caps...

Bruce — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 14:10:24 GMT

I'm now working in an office that uses both AutoCAD and ArchiCAD (good recipe for disaster, but there you go), and there is some dispute over whether or not notes should be written in capitals or not.

My opinion is that in AutoCAD caps should be used because it generally uses the font RomanS (a left over from the old pen and stencil days). This font dispalys best on the AutoCAD screen, whereas Arial doesn't look so hot.

However, in ArchiCAD, RomanS looks crap. Arial is the preferred font of choice - but it doesn't read so well written all in caps - sentence case is the best use.

What is your opinion?

Re: To use Caps or not to use Caps...

Dwight — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:04:05 GMT

My opinion is that you need a product that is both a dessert topping AND a floor wax.

Architects should employ all of the typographic advantages typesetting offers: Upper AND lower case, proper fractions, etc.

You probably need a third typeface, since neither of your current choices work for you.

Can AutoCAD use Multiple Master or Postscript fonts? Like real fonts and not stick fonts?

Without getting into a font taste war [that you would certainly lose] I would consider fonts like Kepler or Warnock Pro - complex, beautiful and reliable body and title serif fonts that were Adobe software registration giveaways in prior years. They have many subtleties and alternate presentations - italic, etc.

Get completely away from architectural-look lettering cliches. The had their day: Mr Hand got arrested for putting it where he shouldn't. Has anyone here suffered under a vanity typeface where the boss gets his hand lettering made into a computer font? GMWAS.

Re: To use Caps or not to use Caps...

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:56:22 GMT

Those SHX fonts are a leftover from the days of DOS and pen plotters. Yet, most AutoCAD firms still use them. Just as you are known by the company you keep....you're also known by the fonts you use. 😉

Karl

Re: To use Caps or not to use Caps...

Laura Yanoviak — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:04:58 GMT

Karl wrote:
Those SHX fonts are a leftover from the days of DOS and pen plotters. Yet, most AutoCAD firms still use them.

The main reason why we used ROMANS in our ACAD days was because it was a standard font , and managing missing fonts was such a pain in the a**.

I prefer all caps. Caps are larger and easily distinguishable from each other (is it an a? an o? an e? A O E). So often we deal with half-size (or 30"x42" reduced to 11"x17") sets, where lower case becomes illegible.

Re: To use Caps or not to use Caps...

Brad Elliott — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:09:04 GMT

My issue with typographic fonts on CAD documents is that the tend to blend in with the drawings. Despite its faults MrHand and the like stand out better from the linework of the construction documents. I say this as a person who got wrapped up in the concept a few years ago. I used a nice san serif font for my titles and a serif font for my body text. I don't remember the fonts off hand but they were recommended by a graphics friend. I thought it looked pretty nice but the response from the field wasn't as positive. I'm now back to MrHand of which I am not a huge fan. I'd be curious to hear other opinions. I might be convinced to switch again if I ever have time so revise my templates.

I tend to use all caps because I am too lazy to remember the rules for what gets CAPITALIZED and what doesn't. And it tends to look silly over a set of documents when a word is randomly capitalized.

Per above, if you are picking your font by its screen appearance you have a whole other problem. It's the published set of documents that others have to build from that you need to be looking out for.

Re: To use Caps or not to use Caps...

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:51:09 GMT

I prefer Upper and Lower case lettering for notation. You can emphasise names and important notes by capitalising them. (I know i could make them bold, but I don't want them to take over). I often use capitals only for room names and the like so they stand out.

And it appears on a Mac that the SHIFT key does not de-activate the CAPS LOCK (i.e. if caps lock is on, holding shift does not temporarily give you lower case )

Re: To use Caps or not to use Caps...

Ignacio Azpiazu — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:38:43 GMT

I am a strong advocate of all-caps and smaller font size (as opposed to the alternative approach, upper-and-lowercase with a larger font size) in construction documents that need to be readable when printed half-size.

Texts in CD sets are short, the easier flow of lowercase which is important for say a newspaper article is not important in a keynote, while legibility at 50% is.

Presentation boards with narratives etc. are a different story, and those are never read at 50% anyway.