Topic: Using UpperCase for all letters in text for CAD Drawings.

[LiftPod]

You obviously haven't reduced an A1 down to A3 and had the workshop guys drag it around the shop for a couple of days.

Oh I have, and in that state sentence case is even better, because of the more unique letter shapes, than block caps, which just being... well a block of smudge.

Personally I reckon you'd be better served changing the work habits of your associates if you see it as important rather than bleating at strangers in here.

Oh I am, I'm just venting here.

Some have the option and have tried sentence case but have decided to stay with all caps for a variety of very legitimate reasons.

So what are these?

Very few do it because it's always been done that way. That is the one thing you are right about. It is a stupid reason to do something.

The one thing? I'll take that as generosity on your part

[Rob...]

Some have the option and have tried sentence case but have decided to stay with all caps for a variety of very legitimate reasons.

So what are these?

If you haven't read the other posts in the threads that you responded to, I'm afraid that I cannot help you.

[Mark]

You obviously haven't reduced an A1 down to A3 and had the workshop guys drag it around the shop for a couple of days.

Oh I have, and in that state sentence case is even better, because of the more unique letter shapes, than block caps, which just being... well a block of smudge.

I have to disagree with you there. Even with the laser printers we have uppercase is still easier to read on reduced plan sheets.

[BlackBox]

I've just used this for the past couple of years, to modify text entities en-mass, rather than having to use text editor for each-and-every-single one at a time :

[dgorsman]

You obviously haven't reduced an A1 down to A3 and had the workshop guys drag it around the shop for a couple of days.

Oh I have, and in that state sentence case is even better, because of the more unique letter shapes, than block caps, which just being... well a block of smudge.

I have to disagree with you there. Even with the laser printers we have uppercase is still easier to read on reduced plan sheets.

Print, then drag around the shop or field, then mark up by hand (including the optional coffee ring), then scan and email back to the client and EPC.  'e' becomes indistinguishable from 'a' or 'g'.  'E', 'A', 'G' etc. cannot become anything else.  'D' may become an 'O' but at that point the entire drawing is mostly unusable anyways.  Not to mention, easier to read through safety goggles.

[Keith™]

I worked for a company 16 years. Early on, the text on drawings were sentence case. There were so many errors and complaints that the powers that be begrudgingly changed to all uppercase and most of the problems and complaints disappeared.

In the last 15 years, I've done lots of construction and used lots of plans .. and honestly, I prefer uppercase because it is much easier to read.

[Rob...]

Everywhere else has abandoned block caps. News papers used to be block caps, road signs used to be, it has gone from everywhere.

This is so not true. Have you seen the comics page in the new paper lately? Also, most road signs around here still use them.

[LiftPod]

~~I'm afraid that I cannot help you.

I agree.

Print, then drag around the shop or field, then mark up by hand (including the optional coffee ring), then scan and email back to the client and EPC.  'e' becomes indistinguishable from 'a' or 'g'.  'E', 'A', 'G' etc. cannot become anything else.  'D' may become an 'O' but at that point the entire drawing is mostly unusable anyways.  Not to mention, easier to read through safety goggles.

E ends up looking like a B, B like an S... is that? C can be a G or an O or a Q or a D, I'm pretty sure that's meant to be a Y not a V. That's probably an H because it has both verticals... wait no, it's an M, definitely an M because it's to wide to be an N. Oh and what we thought was an F is actually a P, but that A is definitely an A. Unmistakable.

And it isn't just the individual letter shapes, it is the word shapes as well. Block caps reduce these to just rectangles, robbing them of their individual forms.

But hey, I and every study from Tinker onwards, obviously missed something. Words just magically work differently on a drawing.

Everywhere else has abandoned block caps. News papers used to be block caps, road signs used to be, it has gone from everywhere.

This is so not true. Have you seen the comics page in the new paper lately? Also, most road signs around here still use them.

You mean like this one?

and this?



and as we like comics

[Mark]

And it isn't just the individual letter shapes, it is the word shapes as well. Block caps reduce these to just rectangles, robbing them of their individual forms.

You do have a point there!

[Rob...]

Not really. The same can be said for lower case letters.

[LiftPod]

Not really. The same can be said for lower case letters.

except saying so would be wrong.







and as for text being smudged or otherwise abused in use, this clearly shows sentence case as being easier to distinguish.



In my 21 years in industry I switched early on from caps to sentence case. I've moved between 6 different companies and each time updated and modernised the CAD standards. There's always resistance to... well most change, but it seems in particular from caps, but every time, once it's done, end users of the drawings appreciate and comment on the improvement it makes.

[Jeff H]

The main motivation for all caps is for printing half size or if larger then 22x34 will still want 11x17 so a bit smaller than half for review, etc....

If that is a factor that needs to be considered how is that handled with sentenced case?

[Rob...]

It's obvious that LP did not come here to contribute anything positive. He is stuck in his ways. Is blind to the benefits of any other methods and shortcomings of his. It's another case of someone that is so wrapped up in their world, that they can't fathom others where his methods just plain don't work.

[Dinosaur]

The main motivation for all caps is for printing half size or if larger then 22x34 will still want 11x17 so a bit smaller than half for review, etc....

If that is a factor that needs to be considered how is that handled with sentenced case?

The only option at the one firm I worked at that DEMANDED upper / lower case (with a prescribed slant angle) was to use lettering approximately 0.14 full height thus giving the lower case lettering the desired 1/8" height minimum for any company deliverable document.  You could read the blasted stuff but lettering tended to take over the drawing and restricted the amount of information that could be presented on each sheet.

[Dent Cermak]

It's amazing to me how rookies are so adamant about how things should be done. Ignoring the fact that what they state is simply their opinion and everyone has one of those.
As long as you are "starting a new job" then your sole duty is to draw it the way that the guy that signs your paycheck wants it done. Your opinion is irrelevant.
When you grow up and have your own companty, then you can set the standards. Until then, trying to do so and complaining about people wanting to continue to do things the way that THEY like will only lead to one conclusion. Another post that starts off, "I'm starting a new job......" 

SIX companies in 21 years?? That's a little over 3 years per company. I realize that you are boasting about that, BUT that is NOT a good track record. Not counting the military or working for my dad back in the stone ages, i have wiorked for2 (TWO) companies in the last 44 years, and I have been at the latest one for only 6 months. That is a track record.