[webkit-dev] Simplifying syntax in test_expectations.txt (bug 86691)

[Dirk Pranke]

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 4:00 PM, Maciej Stachowiak <mjs at apple.com> wrote:
>
> On May 17, 2012, at 12:53 PM, Dirk Pranke <dpranke at chromium.org> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 12:47 PM, Ryosuke Niwa <rniwa at webkit.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> I find either all-lowercase or all-caps to be much harder to read than
>>> capitalized words. They look like a blob of letters to me.
>>
>> We might have to agree to disagree here, then, but that's fine.
>>
>> If there was a clear consensus that one style or another is better, we
>> should go with that.
>
> Which you like better esthetically may be a matter of taste. But it's an objective, scientifically established fact that all-caps text is harder to read than lowercase or mixed case, and reduces reading speed:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_caps#Readability
> http://uxmovement.com/content/all-caps-hard-for-users-to-read/
>

Ooo! Citation fight!

http://www.whatmakesthemclick.net/2009/12/23/100-things-you-should-know-about-people-19-its-a-myth-that-all-capital-letters-are-inherently-harder-to-read/
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ctfonts/wordrecognition.aspx

:).

While I am aware that large block of text are obviously harder to read
in all caps, there is research out there that suggests that the
problem is just that you're not used to recognizing the particular
shapes at hand. In this hand, we're talking about a small set of
keywords, and it seems likely that many of us who have grown used to
the syntax immediately process IMAGE, TEXT etc. and are not slowed by
reading them. The bulk of the text is still lower case (test names) or
mixed case (comments)

I'm not wedded to the all-caps thing, but, as I have said repeatedly,
I believe it is useful in helping to parse the overall shape of the
line into distinct chunks.. I am open to accomplish the same end via
other means.



-- Dirk

> Regards,
> Maciej
>