dwg standard

[ILCML]

In the world of detailed and not so detailed drawings mechanical and electrical, and whatever else, I'm told there is an industry 'standard' for using ALL CAPS. I hate this. If you read about readability and/or lettering, you will find that using all caps is not only annoying, but harder to read. Additionally, when you want certain text to stand out (such as a box that begins with "NOTE:") it just looks stupid in all caps. Additionally, all caps takes up more space, and all capitalization is out.
What would have to be done to change the world concerning this? I've done thousands of drawings in lower case, and have been told it's much neater and easier to read, but since it doesn't conform to this alleged STANDARD, I am no longer to do so. I'd love to hear your comments as professionals who create/read such drawings.......

Thanks

 

[dpc]

I've generated more construction drawings than I care to think about in the past 35 years. They all used uppercase only. I don't think it is a standard, but rather a convention that is related to legibility/consistency issues with hand lettering (pre-CAD). A lot of draftsmen had trouble with just uppercase - adding lowercase would have made even a messier dog's breakfast out of the drawings. And it eliminates endless debates over what should be uppercase and what should be lower. Very little of what is on a drawing is written in complete sentences.

The only exceptions I can recall are some architects - they always love to be "creative" and "special".

Maybe it's time for a new convention, but to me, the real question is when do we stop using 3-D CAD to re-create manually-drawn plans and sections? But, I digress....

 

[jraef]

As it was explained to me in drafting class oh so many yeas ago (we actually used PENCILS!), All Caps had everything to do with legibility when making copies, especially blue prints and sepias. In fact my drafting teacher in high school was so strict about it that he would smack the back of our hands with a yardstick if he caught us using lower case letters (those were different times, now he would be jailed for doing that). To this day I have to force myself to use lower case when printing bu hand, which makes me make mistakes. I can write faster using all caps...

I have seen a movement away from that convention on CAD drawings now, but to be honest it becomes a problem again when you reduce a drawing in a copier or print it on smaller paper, something that only became possible long after the All Caps convention was established.

 

[rbulsara]

I agree with dpc and jraef as to why it has been a "standard" practice. I am still in favor of all caps. But that has not compelled me to reject some lowercase use by our CAD operators. Lately I have seen lower case creeping in. The fear of spelling mistakes and neatness has lessened (spelling errors still at annoying levels though) because of ability to import documents created in word processors into CAD drawings.

By biggest annoyance with lowercase is, as jrafe mentioned, when looking at a recduced sized copies.

So here is where I stand, all notes on plans should be in all caps for clarity, as these are the drawnigs whose half size copies are often needed for convenience. Also as dpc mentioned notes on plans are seldom complete sentences. I have no problem with "standard specifications if included on drawings on a sheet by itself being in lower case as they are there more for statutory reasons than real technical needs. Larger projects invariably have specs in book format anyway.