Small capitals - Definition and Overview

In typography, small capitals, or small caps, are uppercase (capital) characters that are printed in a smaller size than normal uppercase characters of the same font. Typically, the height an a small capital will be 1 ex, the same height as most lowercase characters in the font.

Many word processors and text formatting systems include an option to format text in caps and small caps; this leaves uppercase letters as they are but converts lowercase letters to small caps.

Small caps are used for text that is all uppercase (especially acronyms and other initialisms, such as "AIDS" and "B.C."); this makes the run of capital letters seem less "jarring" to the reader. Some publishers, such as Newsweek and DC Comics, use small caps to refer to the name of their own publications inside the same or another publication.

See also

• All caps
• Mixed case
• Camel case

External Links

• Definition from about.com (http://desktoppub.about.com/library/glossary/bldef-smallcaps.htm)