Alternating Case Converter

Mocking text takes a few seconds and works on any device. There is no convert button, because the result appears as you type.

1. Type or paste your message into the Input box. Short sentences work well for memes, though there is no length limit.
2. Choose Start with: lowercase first or UPPERCASE first. This decides whether the pattern begins with a small or a capital letter at the start of each line.
3. Read the result in the box labelled aLtErNaTiNg tExT.
4. Press Copy and paste the text into a comment, caption or image editor. Use as input sends the result back to the Input box.

With lowercase first, hello world becomes hElLo wOrLd. With UPPERCASE first the same words become HeLlO WoRlD. If the joke does not land, change the setting or shorten the quote and compare.

The converter counts character positions from the start of each line. Letters in even positions become lowercase and letters in odd positions become uppercase, or the other way round when you pick uppercase first. The important detail is that every character counts, not just letters. Spaces, digits and punctuation take up a position, even though they are copied across unchanged, so a space shifts the pattern for the word that follows it.

In the first row the space occupies a position, so the second word starts with a capital C. The pattern restarts at the beginning of every new line. Only the plain letters A to Z are changed. Accented letters, such as the é in élan, and letters from other alphabets are copied as they are, which leaves gaps in the pattern. The output is made of ordinary letters, not special symbols, so it pastes cleanly into usernames, comments and chat boxes.

• Mocking SpongeBob memes. The format spread in 2017 with an image of SpongeBob in a hunched pose, captioned with a quote repeated in uneven capitals to sound childish and sarcastic.
• Sarcastic replies. In comments the pattern signals that you are quoting a statement you find silly, without having to explain the joke.
• Usernames and bios. Some people choose mixed case names for a chaotic, unserious look.
• Playful design. Posters, zines and album art sometimes use the pattern deliberately.

Pair it with other text effects, such as the upside down text generator or the glitch text generator, or return to plain writing with the sentence case converter. If you only want fixed capitals or fixed small letters, use the upper case converter or the lower case converter instead.

Alternating caps are hard to read by design, so a few habits help.

• Keep it short. One sentence is funny, while three paragraphs are tiring.
• Quote exactly. The joke lands when it repeats what someone actually said.
• Avoid it at work. Colleagues and customers may read it as mockery of them and not of an idea.
• Keep key information in normal case. People with dyslexia or low vision can find the pattern hard going, and screen readers may stumble over it.
• Check the line breaks. Because the pattern restarts on each line, text with hard line breaks may look uneven.

Used sparingly, it remains one of the most recognisable text jokes online.

Two small tricks give you more control. If the first letter looks wrong for the effect you want, switch Start with to the other option and the whole pattern flips. If you want the pattern to begin again at every word, convert the words one at a time, because the tool counts positions across the entire line. Short usernames of three or four letters are a good place to try both settings and see which looks better.