inferiority of all caps?

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/10/02 1:12:10 PM, gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG writes:

<< "We don't read letter by letter - we read in
phrases. A significant factor in our recognition of words is the shape
of the word. But when words are set in all caps, every word has a
rectangular shape and we have to go back to reading the letters. SO,
FOR BETTER READABILITY, AVOID ALL CAPS. " >>

This, of course, is just a "stands-to-reason" argument, with no empirical
support. In fact, it seems to me not to be all that "reasonable," either. Who
says we "have to go back to reading the letters" because of rectangularity?

Does this mean that German is harder to read than English because the words
keep shifting from u.c. to l.c. beginnings depending upon whether or not they
are adjectives or nouns, thus constantly shifting their "shape"?

It also "stands to reason" that caps are bigger and therefore EASIER to read.
And that texts with 52 different symbols would be twice as hard to read as
text with only 26 different symbols.