When to use initials Initials should be used sparingly if at all in a given work. The more frequently initials appear, the less strength they have. In addition, since initials tend to stand out from their surroundings, especial care must be taken that when more than one initial appears on a page spread, nothing untoward is spelled by the initials. Initials should be used only in works whose character is suited to their appearance both in lexical and visual content. A medieval initial will look out of place in just about any modern text and a technical document with frequent displayed formulas would not be well served with initials further cluttering the page.
Most documents do well with no more than one initial, appearing at the opening of the text.
If this sort of restraint is employed, the initial may be treated with the care and precision that it deserves. In book work, each chapter may have an initial, although this is only advisable in books with little displayed matter where the initial may serve to provide some visual interest to the page. The first line of text would cross this space to tie it to the initial, thus the name. Titling fonts consisting entirely of uppercase letters provided a way to get a closer letterfit for initials since there was no shoulder at the bottom of the letters. Typographic handbooks generally recommend aligning initials either at the top with the top of the first line of text or at the bottom with the baseline of the text that follows.