Compare the four most common text cases and learn exactly when each one is appropriate — for writing, design and code.
Learn the differences between uppercase, lowercase, title case and sentence case, and when to use each one.
Key points from this guide
ALL CAPS reads roughly 10-15% slower because the uniform rectangle shape of capitalised words removes the ascender and descender pattern readers use to recognise them.
Title Case suits headlines and product names; sentence case suits UI labels, notifications and long headings, where it reads faster and looks less shouty.
Apple and Google's design systems both use sentence case for interface text; most news publishers use Title Case for headlines. Pick one convention and stay with it.
For visual capitalisation, use CSS text-transform rather than converting the characters — screen readers then still get the original text.
Lowercase is the standard for data: emails, tags, slugs and lookup keys should be lowercased before they are compared or stored.
Frequently asked questions
Is Title Case or sentence case better for page titles?
Both perform fine in search. Title Case looks more editorial and sentence case looks more conversational — consistency across the site matters more than the choice.
When is ALL CAPS acceptable?
Short labels, acronyms and single-word buttons. Anything longer than a few words costs reading speed and can be read out letter by letter by screen readers.