4 ms·

Is the capitalization of the quote your own doing or was it displayed like it for you? There isn't a single uppercase letter when I open the article, it's impo

by wiether 11mo ago

Is the capitalization of the quote your own doing or was it displayed like it for you? There isn't a single uppercase letter when I open the article, it's impossible to me to read it because it feel like a single sentence and I can't breathe

hexo 11mo ago
to me it has much better readability
noduerme 11mo ago
The lower case "I" stands out very much in reading it as a self-annihilating affectation. However, the sentences are well formed. If you really want to lose your breath, try "The Autumn of the Patriarch" by Marquez. You really won't be able to put it down.
- jll29 11mo ago
  Or Finnegan's Wake, for that matter.
Freak_NL 11mo ago
The author obviously has this as an acquired habit or affectation, possibly for stylistic reasons. It's interesting that some people can read this just as well as normal prose, but to others it feels as if someone is pouring sand all over their well-oiled gears. I gave up after a paragraph as well. I fully support people writing in whatever way pleases them, but for broadly accessible article length text capitalisation is a must in English. Not because it is 'correct', but because many readers rely on capitalisation.
- pcthrowaway 11mo ago
  Many readers rely on articles being written in a specific language, does that mean every writer is obligated to publish every piece in every language? Has it occurred to anyone who sees capitalization as a must-have for legibility, that an opportunity is being presented to train oneself to read text without traditional capitalization? Maybe it's because I studied poetry, or because I was a voracious reader of experimental writing when I was younger, but I've probably worked my way through thousands of pages of uncapitalized or unconventionally capitalized writing; I can empathize if it's more difficult for you to read (personally I would consider an absence of paragraph breaks a nearly-unforgivable travesty), and I wouldn't even deny you the opportunity to complain about it. But I think calling it "a must" for accessibility is perhaps overstating it a bit.
  - Freak_NL 11mo ago
    There is no obligation at all (my comment did not include any must beyond that being a requirement for broadly accessible text either). Merely the observation that if you want to write accessible text in any chosen language, following conventions means that you expand your reach. Experimental language has its place. I can quite enjoy that too depending on the context. But combining the wish to convey a story or message with avant-garde text layout turns it into something more akin to art. I'm not always in the mood for that, in part because it is more taxing to engage with. In this case I figure the goal of the author is for readers to hear their story, not grapple with their specific manner of self-expression. Of course if their life goal is to make lowercase text common and acceptable, then this may be completely on point. My point about the accessibility of the text still stands though. > Has it occurred to anyone who sees capitalization as a must-have for legibility, that an opportunity is being presented to train oneself to read text without traditional capitalization? I can train myself to read text upside-down as well, or in Klingon, or with no spaces at all. I have no wish to do so, since most authors seem to regard such text as unnecessarily harsh on their readers. Besides, being able to read well because you have a solid grasp on the conventions, lexicon, and idioms used is a net benefit to me. Our brains are pattern matching machines after all — pattern recognition is what we humans excel in. If have no desire to diminish that skill either.
    - bonsai_spool 11mo ago
      > since most authors seem to regard such text as unnecessarily harsh on their readers. To push back on this, following convention is often the easy thing to do (so not something regarded versus defaulted to). There's a literary history of form influencing story; there was even a story about a famous example of this on HN recently that discussed this year's Nobel laureate—who notably publishes long novels that play with punctuation conventions: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/against-high-brodernism/ https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/against-high-brodernism/
  - BeFlatXIII 11mo ago
    I find that people who make a point out of violating writing norms as part of their house style typically don't have thoughts worth communicating. Nothing is missed by not training myself instead of reading something that flows smoothly.
- scydereal 11mo ago
  Generally agree with that, but in this particular case I don't think this text was designed to be broadly accessible, given the content and the platform (little indie website). Edit: checked out some of their other posts and they don't always use this style. Seems like a pretty deliberate choice here.
gbin 11mo ago
It doesn't improve readability for sure but for me it comes across way worse as "I don't have time for this, deal with it" because all of the people I know doing that are self-important executives. English is a second language for me and I feel really bad when I impose a grammar mistake or a badly put together sentence to my readers! So for me pushing that on purpose is borderline insulting to the reader ie. suffer so I don't have to press the shift key, this extra effort is below me.
- kergonath 11mo ago
  > for me it comes across way worse as "I don't have time for this, deal with it" because all of the people I know doing that are self-important executives. Same for me. See Sam Altman, for example. > suffer so I don't have to press the shift key, this extra effort is below me. These days you actually have to fight against spell checkers to avoid having capitals after a period.
delecti 11mo ago
It's interesting to me that you had such difficulty, and it makes me wonder how old you are. Growing up using instant messengers on the internet in the '90s and early '00s, it was normal to type without ever using capital letters, except for emphasis. The only thing that changes that style is when someone is typing on a phone that capitalizes for them (though one friend manually undoes those "corrections").
- wiether 11mo ago
  35 To me instant messaging is different because we usually type short messages The capitalization is not needed to structure the text because a sentence = a message So the UI will take care of delimiting the sentences
pja 11mo ago
I capitalised the quote. All lowercase is an annoying affectation that I didn’t choose to repeat.

by wiether 11mo ago

hexo 11mo ago

to me it has much better readability

noduerme 11mo ago

The lower case "I" stands out very much in reading it as a self-annihilating affectation. However, the sentences are well formed. If you really want to lose your breath, try "The Autumn of the Patriarch" by Marquez. You really won't be able to put it down.

jll29 11mo ago
Or Finnegan's Wake, for that matter.

Freak_NL 11mo ago

The author obviously has this as an acquired habit or affectation, possibly for stylistic reasons. It's interesting that some people can read this just as well as normal prose, but to others it feels as if someone is pouring sand all over their well-oiled gears. I gave up after a paragraph as well. I fully support people writing in whatever way pleases them, but for broadly accessible article length text capitalisation is a must in English. Not because it is 'correct', but because many readers rely on capitalisation.

pcthrowaway 11mo ago
Many readers rely on articles being written in a specific language, does that mean every writer is obligated to publish every piece in every language? Has it occurred to anyone who sees capitalization as a must-have for legibility, that an opportunity is being presented to train oneself to read text without traditional capitalization? Maybe it's because I studied poetry, or because I was a voracious reader of experimental writing when I was younger, but I've probably worked my way through thousands of pages of uncapitalized or unconventionally capitalized writing; I can empathize if it's more difficult for you to read (personally I would consider an absence of paragraph breaks a nearly-unforgivable travesty), and I wouldn't even deny you the opportunity to complain about it. But I think calling it "a must" for accessibility is perhaps overstating it a bit.
- Freak_NL 11mo ago
  There is no obligation at all (my comment did not include any must beyond that being a requirement for broadly accessible text either). Merely the observation that if you want to write accessible text in any chosen language, following conventions means that you expand your reach. Experimental language has its place. I can quite enjoy that too depending on the context. But combining the wish to convey a story or message with avant-garde text layout turns it into something more akin to art. I'm not always in the mood for that, in part because it is more taxing to engage with. In this case I figure the goal of the author is for readers to hear their story, not grapple with their specific manner of self-expression. Of course if their life goal is to make lowercase text common and acceptable, then this may be completely on point. My point about the accessibility of the text still stands though. > Has it occurred to anyone who sees capitalization as a must-have for legibility, that an opportunity is being presented to train oneself to read text without traditional capitalization? I can train myself to read text upside-down as well, or in Klingon, or with no spaces at all. I have no wish to do so, since most authors seem to regard such text as unnecessarily harsh on their readers. Besides, being able to read well because you have a solid grasp on the conventions, lexicon, and idioms used is a net benefit to me. Our brains are pattern matching machines after all — pattern recognition is what we humans excel in. If have no desire to diminish that skill either.
  - bonsai_spool 11mo ago
    > since most authors seem to regard such text as unnecessarily harsh on their readers. To push back on this, following convention is often the easy thing to do (so not something regarded versus defaulted to). There's a literary history of form influencing story; there was even a story about a famous example of this on HN recently that discussed this year's Nobel laureate—who notably publishes long novels that play with punctuation conventions: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/against-high-brodernism/ https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/against-high-brodernism/
- BeFlatXIII 11mo ago
  I find that people who make a point out of violating writing norms as part of their house style typically don't have thoughts worth communicating. Nothing is missed by not training myself instead of reading something that flows smoothly.
scydereal 11mo ago
Generally agree with that, but in this particular case I don't think this text was designed to be broadly accessible, given the content and the platform (little indie website). Edit: checked out some of their other posts and they don't always use this style. Seems like a pretty deliberate choice here.

gbin 11mo ago

It doesn't improve readability for sure but for me it comes across way worse as "I don't have time for this, deal with it" because all of the people I know doing that are self-important executives. English is a second language for me and I feel really bad when I impose a grammar mistake or a badly put together sentence to my readers! So for me pushing that on purpose is borderline insulting to the reader ie. suffer so I don't have to press the shift key, this extra effort is below me.

kergonath 11mo ago
> for me it comes across way worse as "I don't have time for this, deal with it" because all of the people I know doing that are self-important executives. Same for me. See Sam Altman, for example. > suffer so I don't have to press the shift key, this extra effort is below me. These days you actually have to fight against spell checkers to avoid having capitals after a period.

delecti 11mo ago

It's interesting to me that you had such difficulty, and it makes me wonder how old you are. Growing up using instant messengers on the internet in the '90s and early '00s, it was normal to type without ever using capital letters, except for emphasis. The only thing that changes that style is when someone is typing on a phone that capitalizes for them (though one friend manually undoes those "corrections").

wiether 11mo ago
35 To me instant messaging is different because we usually type short messages The capitalization is not needed to structure the text because a sentence = a message So the UI will take care of delimiting the sentences

pja 11mo ago

I capitalised the quote. All lowercase is an annoying affectation that I didn’t choose to repeat.