Thanks. I didn't remember that. Rich in LA CA
John R. Bayle wrote:
Richard wrote:
Here is a possible explanation. To start I am only reporting, not judging.
Originally in computerized genealogy the only game in town was the LDS.
When they decided, when creating the original
pre cursor to the IGI, they standardized the desired input for
themselves, which was people names ALL CAPS. It may come
from the real old days when computers only had CAPS. In the ensueing
decades, more non LDS were joining the group of
computer genealogists. All the older programs defaulted to ALL CAPS.
Then the IGI went to SURNAME CAPS, Given Name
First Letter. Now most programs, if not all, give various choices as the
what you want, not what you get.
YOU CAN CHANGE TO KEEP WHAT I PRINT. I did.
Rich in LA CA
I believe the source of ALLCAPS has it's origins in Genealogy, not in limitations of early computer programs. My understanding is that ALLCAPS was used by early genealogists when typing up reports to make it easy to scan such reports and find names. This was from the era of using typewriters when bold and italic fonts were not available without changing typewriters (or on an IBM Selectric changing the ball) Note how easily your eye picks out the ALLCAPS parts of the above text. Now imagine that the convention was to do names and only names as ALLCAPS. Some folks got used to that and many folks think that even with modern wordprocessors and the abilty to change fonts and font styles, writing names in ALLCAPS still makes them stand out more than the various font alternatives. jr
Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp
To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/
To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp
To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/
To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
