From b0e6576b338b514ec5addeb4061b0b8fcbb87fe9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joseph Montanaro <jfmonty2@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2026 20:31:46 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] add SmallCaps component and use for title

---
 .astro/content-modules.mjs     |  4 +--
 src/components/Post.astro      |  9 ++++--
 src/components/SmallCaps.astro | 50 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/components/Toc.vue         | 13 ++++-----
 4 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 src/components/SmallCaps.astro

diff --git a/.astro/content-modules.mjs b/.astro/content-modules.mjs
index 4abc3e2..e966991 100644
--- a/.astro/content-modules.mjs
+++ b/.astro/content-modules.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 
 export default new Map([
 ["posts/after.mdx", () => import("astro:content-layer-deferred-module?astro%3Acontent-layer-deferred-module=&fileName=posts%2Fafter.mdx&astroContentModuleFlag=true")],
-["posts/test.mdx", () => import("astro:content-layer-deferred-module?astro%3Acontent-layer-deferred-module=&fileName=posts%2Ftest.mdx&astroContentModuleFlag=true")],
-["posts/before.mdx", () => import("astro:content-layer-deferred-module?astro%3Acontent-layer-deferred-module=&fileName=posts%2Fbefore.mdx&astroContentModuleFlag=true")]]);
+["posts/before.mdx", () => import("astro:content-layer-deferred-module?astro%3Acontent-layer-deferred-module=&fileName=posts%2Fbefore.mdx&astroContentModuleFlag=true")],
+["posts/test.mdx", () => import("astro:content-layer-deferred-module?astro%3Acontent-layer-deferred-module=&fileName=posts%2Ftest.mdx&astroContentModuleFlag=true")]]);
 		
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/components/Post.astro b/src/components/Post.astro
index 596768b..23ce955 100644
--- a/src/components/Post.astro
+++ b/src/components/Post.astro
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import type { CollectionEntry } from 'astro:content';
 import { render } from 'astro:content';
 
+import SmallCaps from '@components/SmallCaps.astro';
 import Toc from '@components/Toc.vue';
 import { formatDate } from '@lib/datefmt';
 
@@ -39,9 +40,9 @@ article {
 }
 
 .subtitle {
-    font-size: 0.9em;
+    font-size: 0.85em;
     font-style: italic;
-    margin-top: -0.75rem;
+    margin-top: -1rem;
 }
 
 .post {
@@ -73,7 +74,9 @@ footer {
 
 <article class="prose">
     <header class="title">
-        <h1>{ entry.data.title }</h1>
+        <h1>
+            <SmallCaps text={entry.data.title} upperWeight={500} lowerWeight={800} />
+        </h1>
         <p class="subtitle">{ formatDate(entry.data.date) }</p>
     </header>
 
diff --git a/src/components/SmallCaps.astro b/src/components/SmallCaps.astro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62cfead
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/SmallCaps.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+---
+// few web fonts have "true" smallcaps, so instead they just take the full-size caps and scale them
+// down to match the height of lowercase letters. But this leads to an awkward effect where the
+// scaled-down caps are "lighter" looking than the regular-sized caps, so here we reduce the weight
+// of just the full-sized caps to compensate.
+export interface Props {
+    text: string,
+    upperWeight?: number | string,
+    lowerWeight?: number | string,
+};
+
+const { text, upperWeight = 'inherit', lowerWeight = 'bolder' } = Astro.props;
+
+const upperOrDigit = /[A-Z0-9]+/g;
+let prevIdx = 0;
+let segments = [];
+for (const match of text.matchAll(upperOrDigit)) {
+    const lower = text.slice(prevIdx, match.index);
+    // if the first letter of the text is upper, this first segment will be '', so skip it
+    if (lower) {
+        segments.push({type: 'lower', chars: lower})
+    };
+    segments.push({type: 'upper', chars: match[0]})
+    prevIdx = match.index + match[0].length;
+}
+const final = text.slice(prevIdx);
+// if there is a final segment, it wasn't a match, so it must be lowercase
+if (final) {
+    segments.push({type: 'lower', chars: final})
+};
+---
+
+<span class="small-caps">
+    { segments.map(s => <span class={s.type}>{ s.chars }</span>) }
+</span>
+
+
+<style define:vars={{ upperWeight, lowerWeight }}>
+.small-caps {
+    font-variant: small-caps;
+}
+
+.upper {
+    font-weight: var(--upperWeight);
+}
+
+.lower {
+    font-weight: var(--lowerWeight);
+}
+</style>
diff --git a/src/components/Toc.vue b/src/components/Toc.vue
index 6b37ca3..717fa43 100644
--- a/src/components/Toc.vue
+++ b/src/components/Toc.vue
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ onBeforeUnmount(() => {
 
 <template>
     <div id="toc">
-        <h5><span class="initial">C</span>ontents</h5>
+        <h5>C<span class="lower">ontents</span></h5>
         <ul id="toc-list">
             <li
                 v-for="heading in headings"
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ onBeforeUnmount(() => {
 
 h5 {
     font-variant: petite-caps;
-    font-weight: 500;
+    font-weight: 350;
     font-size: var(--content-size);
     font-family: 'Figtree Variable';
     color: var(--content-color-faded);
@@ -122,12 +122,9 @@ h5 {
     /* make the border stretch beyond the text just a bit, because I like the effect */
     padding-right: 1.5rem;
 
-    & .initial {
-        /*
-        Our font doesn't have "proper" smallcaps, but we can fake it by
-        setting the weight separately for the initial (non-small) capital
-        */
-        font-weight: 350
+    /* SmallCaps is an Astro component so we can't use it here, but we can fake it */
+    & .lower {
+        font-weight: 500;
     }
 }