View source for Template:Smallcaps/doc

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{{template shortcut|sm|aut}}
'''<nowiki>{{Smallcaps}}</nowiki>''' will display the lowercase part of your text as a soft format of typographical {{Smallcaps|[[small caps]]}}.<br>For example: <nowiki>{{smallcaps|Beware of Dog}}</nowiki> &rarr; {{smallcaps|Beware of Dog}}.

This template should be avoided or used sparingly in articles, as the [[MOS:SMALLCAPS|Manual of Style advises]] that small caps should be avoided and reduced to one of the other title cases or normal case and [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Keep markup simple|markup should be kept simple]].

===Usage===
Your source text is not altered in the output, only the way it is displayed on the screen: a copy-paste of the text will give the small caps sections in their original form; similarly, an older or non-CSS browser will only display the original text on screen.

; Code     : <code><nowiki>{{Smallcaps|Your Text in 4004 BC}}</nowiki></code>
; Displayed: {{Smallcaps|Your Text in 4004 BC}}
; Pasted   : Your Text in 4004 BC

This template is therefore intended for the use of caps as a typographic style, such as rendering family names in bibliographies in small caps to distinguish them from given names. It should not be used for acronyms or abbreviations which are supposed to be capitalized regardless of style. For such cases, use {{tl|Smallcaps all}}.

==Notes==
* [[Diacritic]]s (å, ç, é, ğ, ı, ñ, ø, ş, ü, etc.) are handled. However, because the job is performed by each reader's browser, inconsistencies in [[CSS]] implementations can lead to some browsers not converting certain rare diacritics.
* Use of this template does not generate any automatic categorization. As with most templates, if the argument contains an <tt>=</tt> sign, the sign should be replaced with {{[[Template:=|=]]}}, or the whole argument be prefixed with <tt>1=</tt>. And for wikilinks, you need to use piping. There is a parsing problem with MediaWiki which causes unexpected behavior when a template with one style is used within a template with another style.
* There is a problem with [[dotted and dotless I]]. <code><nowiki>{{Lang|tr|{{</nowiki>Smallcaps|ı i}}}}</code> gives you {{Lang|tr|{{Smallcaps|ı i}}}}, although the language is set to Turkish.
* Do not use this inside [[Wikipedia:Citation templates|citation templates]], or this template's markup will be included in the [[COinS]] metadata. This means that [[reference management software]] such as [[Zotero]] will store the markup. For example, if {{tl|smallcaps}} is used to format the surname of ''Bloggs, Joe'' in {{tl|cite journal}}, then Zotero will store the name as <code><nowiki><span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Bloggs</span>, Joe</nowiki></code>. This is incorrect COinS metadata.

==Code examples==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Code !! Display (screen)
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|The ''Name'' of the 2nd Game}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|The ''Name'' of the 2nd Game}}
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>Leonardo {{Smallcaps|DiCaprio}} (born 1974)</nowiki> || Leonardo {{Smallcaps|DiCaprio}} (born 1974)
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>José {{Smallcaps|Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga}}</nowiki> || José {{Smallcaps|Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga}}
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|Nesbø, Vågen, Louÿs, Zúñiga, Kabaağaçlı}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|Nesbø, Vågen, Louÿs, Zúñiga, Kabaağaçlı}}
|-
|colspan=3 align=center| ''When your text uses an = sign:''
|-
|{{N}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|You and Me = Us}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|You and Me = Us}}
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|You and Me &amp;#61; Us}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|You and Me &#61; Us}}
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|You and Me {{=}} Us}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|You and Me {{=}} Us}}
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|1=You and Me = Us}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|1=You and Me = Us}}
|-
|colspan=3 align=center| ''When your text uses a template:''
|-
|{{N}}|| <nowiki>in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's {{Green{{!}}Green}}}} forever</nowiki> || in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's {{Green{{!}}Green}}}} forever
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>in {{Smallcaps|1=Fiddler's {{Green|Green}}}} forever</nowiki> || in {{Smallcaps|1=Fiddler's {{Green|Green}}}} forever
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's {{Green|Green}}}} forever</nowiki> || in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's {{Green|Green}}}} forever
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Green|1=in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's Green}} forever}}</nowiki> || {{Green|1=in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's Green}} forever}}
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Colors|green|yellow|3=in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's Green}} forever}}</nowiki> || {{Colors|green|yellow|3=in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's Green}} forever}}
|-
|colspan=3 align=center| ''When your text uses a {{!}} pipe:''
|-
|{{N}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|Before|afteR}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|Before|afteR}}
|-
|{{N}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|1=Before{{!}}afteR}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|1=Before{{!}}afteR}}
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>{{Smallcaps|Before&amp;#124;afteR}}</nowiki> || {{Smallcaps|Before&#124;afteR}}
|-
|colspan=3 align=center| ''When your text uses a link:''
|-
|{{N}}|| <nowiki>[[{{Smallcaps|Mao}} Zedong]]</nowiki> || [[{{Smallcaps|Mao}} Zedong]]
|-
|{{Y}}|| <nowiki>[[Mao Zedong|{{Smallcaps|Mao}} Zedong]]</nowiki> || [[Mao Zedong|{{Smallcaps|Mao}} Zedong]]
|}
Note that most of these uses are not sanctioned by the [[WP:Manual of Style]] and should be avoided in article prose.

==Reasons to use small caps==
[[Small caps]] are useful for encyclopedical and typographical uses including:

; To lighten ALL-CAPS surnames mandated by [[citation style]]s such as [[Harvard referencing|Harvard]]
Note that this template should not be used inside CS1 or CS2 citation templates, such as {{tl|cite book}} or {{tl|citation}}.
* Piccadilly has been compared to "a Parisian boulevard" ({{smallcaps|Dickens}} 1879).
* [[Charles Dickens, Jr|{{smallcaps|Dickens}}, C., Jr]] (1879). "Piccadilly" in ''Dickens's Dictionary of London''. London: C. Dickens.[http://worldcat.org/oclc/54321168?page=citation]
; To disambiguate Western names and surnames at a glance
* Many [[Hispanic name]]s are tricky to decompose:
** [[Jorge Luis Borges|Jorge Luis {{smallcaps|Borges}}]], but [[Adolfo Bioy Casares|Adolfo {{smallcaps|Bioy| C|asares}}]] (both filed under "B")
** [[José Álvarez de Bohórquez|José {{smallcaps|Álvarez| de las A|sturias| de B|ohórquez| y G|oyeneche}}, Marqués de los Trujillos]]
* And many [[Hispanic name]]s are better known by their second surname:
** [[Pablo Ruiz Picasso|Pablo {{smallcaps|Ruiz '''Picasso'''}}]], [[Federico García Lorca|Federico {{smallcaps|García '''Lorca'''}}]], [[Emir Rodríguez Monegal|Emir {{smallcaps|Rodríguez '''Monegal'''}}]], [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero|José Luis {{smallcaps|Rodríguez '''Zapatero'''}}]]
* Many names (Martín, Miguel, Ramón, Tomás, etc.) can be either forename or surname:
** [[Juan Martín Hernández|Juan Martín {{smallcaps|Hernández}}]] vs. [[Rafael Martín Vázquez|Rafael {{smallcaps|Martín Vázquez}}]] (two ball players)
* [[Hungarian name]]s natively use the surname-first order:
** [[Petőfi Sándor|{{smallcaps|Petőfi}} Sándor]] is usually westernized [[Sándor Petőfi|Sándor {{smallcaps|Petőfi}}]]
; To disambiguate Eastern surnames and given names at a glance
* Most [[Chinese name]]s and [[Korean name]]s retain their surname-first order:
** [[Mao Zedong|{{smallcaps|Mao}} Zedong]] fought [[Chiang Kai-shek|{{smallcaps|Chiang}} Kai-shek]]
** The movie ''Oldboy'' by [[Park Chan-wook|{{smallcaps|Park}} Chan-wook]] starring [[Choi Min-sik|{{smallcaps|Choi}} Min-sik]] was not seen by [[Kim Il-sung|{{smallcaps|Kim}} Il-sung]]
:Especially in Hong Kong and Macao, a Western given name may be added as well:
:*[[Leslie Cheung|Leslie {{smallcaps|Cheung}} Kwok-Wing]]
* Most [[Japanese name]]s are reversed in the West, but not all:
** ([[Akira Kurosawa|Akira {{smallcaps|Kurosawa}}]] or [[Motojirō Kajii|Motojirō {{smallcaps|Kajii}}]] are usually westernized)
** But [[Matsuo Bashō|{{smallcaps|Matsuo}} Bashō]], [[Ono no Komachi|{{smallcaps|Ono}} no Komachi]], [[Kaga no Chiyo|{{smallcaps|Kaga}} no Chiyo]] (haiku poets known under their given name)
** But [[Edogawa Ranpo|{{smallcaps|Edogawa}} Ranpo]] (kept due to wordplay "EdgarA–llanPoe) vs. [[Ranpo Edogawa|Ranpo {{smallcaps|Edogawa}}]] (some modern uses)
* [[Burma|Burmese]] names ignore the concept of forename/surname, but are adapted in the West:
** Daw [[Aung San Suu Kyi|{{smallcaps|Aung San}} Suu Kyi]], daughter of General [[Aung San|{{smallcaps|Aung San}}]] ("Daw" is honorific, her name takes part of his name)
* And some [[Burma|Burmese]] names are so short they need to retain an honorific prefix (U for Mister, Daw for Madam, Thakin for Master) which is confusable with a forename or a surname:
** [[U Nu|U {{smallcaps|Nu}}]] ("Mister {{smallcaps|Nu}}"), a.k.a. [[Thakin Nu|Thakin {{smallcaps|Nu}}]] ("Master {{smallcaps|Nu}}")
; To cite [[Unicode]] character names correctly without unwanted emphasizing
* Such names are required to be written in capitals by the Unicode standard. In running text, “U+022A {{smallcaps|latin capital letter o with diaeresis and macron}}” is a less predominant alternative to “U+022A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS AND MACRON”.

==Technical==
Technically, the template merely wraps the standard:

: <code><nowiki><span style="font-variant:small-caps;"> ... </span></nowiki></code>

(The "font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase" has not been used because it does not work at least in Internet Explorer 5 and 6, which are still fairly common browsers.)

==Suppressing small caps==
If you wish to suppress the display of small caps in your browser, as a logged in user, you can make an edit to [[Special:MyPage/common.css|your common.css]] reading

 span.smallcaps { font-variant: normal !important; }

==See also==
Templates that change the display (copy-paste will get the original text):

* {{tl|Allcaps}}   – upper-case display
* {{tl|Nocaps}}    – lower-case display
* {{tl|Smallcaps}} – small-caps display
* {{tl|Smallcaps all}} – hard-formatted small-caps display
* {{[[Template:Fixcaps|Fixcaps]]}} – capitalizes words <nowiki>{{fixcaps|pLAy/tHE/GamE}}</nowiki> &rarr; {{fixcaps|pLAy/tHE/GamE}}

[[Help:Magic words#Formatting|Magic words]] that rewrite the output (copy-paste will get the text as displayed):

* <nowiki>{{</nowiki>lc:}}      – lower case output of the full text
* <nowiki>{{</nowiki>uc:}}      – upper case output of the full text
* <nowiki>{{</nowiki>lcfirst:}} – lower case output of the first character only
* <nowiki>{{</nowiki>ucfirst:}} – upper case output of the first character only

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