Up Style versus down style

Monday, July 17, 2006, 9:21 AM
Graphic Design by John (Article #91)

Some days goofy thoughts dive into your brain. Today's goofy thought is about the possibility of discontinuing the use of so-called "Up Style".

A little backgrounder for those who never had this argument ... There are two common ways to stylistically represent a headline: Up Style and downstyle. Up Style is where the first letter of every major word in a sentence is capitalized. Down style is normal typing: the first letter of the headline, proper nouns, etc. are capitalized.

Up Style is an out-cropping of an era when we had fewer design options. Most headlines were in black and white and printed on crappy, thin paper that was an ugly shade of gray.

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But, in a world where b&w print is being paved under by cheap color printing and the internet, isn't it time re-evaluate how we stylize a headline?

Most internet-only businesses have already accepted the pre-emminence of down style. Look at Yahoo News for example.

Down style is significantly more readable. However, Up Style has more kick and stands out from neighboring text.

The trade-off, though, is that headline can be done in a million different colors and styles. Why resort to one mechanism that worked around the time that "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN"?

Obviously, the all-caps of DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN is a violation of netiquette. So ... That form of UpStyle is highly unlikely to ever return.

Bloomberg News still seems to like Up Style.

Taking a look at the Bloomberg site, it's clear to see they're not maximizing their use of design to use other, newer, fresher, better approaches to ensure that headlines are conveyed as headlines.

Design should now be this stagnant!

In an era where border and colors and styles cost nothing, why not experiment a bit with CSS and find new ways to bring out your headlines?

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Welcome!

Wonder where to start with your web design business?

This blog follows along with my efforts to build and grow a website design business, Pro Content and Design.

The goal of this blog is to fill in blanks that may be empty as you get your business rolling.

This blog, particularly the source code section, is not intended for beginners. If you are not comfortable with databases, Ajax, DOM objects and other advanced methods, I strongly suggest you go take a look over at W3 Schools before even reading -- let alone tinkering with -- any of the code here.

I hope this blog has some value to web designers as they attempt to get their businesses going.

Good luck, and happy reading.

Thank you,
John Crawford
Pro Content and Design