Re: A call for evidence: sentence or title case for headings?

On Mar 14, 2010, at 7:00 AM, Caroline Jarrett wrote:
> I'm just having a tussle with an editor about whether to use title  
> case or
> sentence case in headings in an online column - quite a long one, a  
> few
> screens-ful.
>
> The editor asked me: "What's your data?".

(At first quick read I thought you were saying that the headings were  
very long rather than the column.One might argue that long headings  
are not headings or deks but rather ledes, thus sentence case makes  
sense.)

Making decisions based on data without logic is, tautologically  
enough, illogical. Knowing that others do x should only sway you if  
you want to be like those others in some superficial way. Was the  
editor expecting studies showing that people read faster or retain  
more information one way or another? The question then would be  
whether the purpose of headings is to get someone to read faster or  
retain more of the information in the heading.

It seems like a question of what fits best into the general practice  
of the publication.

Gunnar
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Greenville NC 27858
USA

[email protected]
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