Limit Capitalization

There are literally hundreds of items to look for on a site in regards to testing its usability. My favorite topic though, is a group of many of them, and they are all about creating emphasis. I’m a solid believer that every page has its purpose, and too often I see pages that have a difficult time conveying their primary message.

The reason the primary message is often lost is because there are too many uses of emphasis being used. To name a few: bold, red text, underlined text, larger font, change in font type, graphics, and the use of all caps. All to often I find sites that have 10% or more in content that is in all caps. To me, this is almost crazy. Using caps is not just a method to emphasize something, but on the internet, it is also considered a method of yelling. You don’t want to yell at your visitors, DO YOU?

When capitalizing words limit it as if you were using bold. Select only one or two words, possibly a short phrase, and limit its use for the page it is used on. A site with ten items screaming at you, just equals one loud one sided conversation with no emphasis on anything. What’s the point of the page? It should be clear by using a well thought out, highly prioritized, use of emphasis.