In my mention of forming a chord above, I said "a C major chord has notes 1, 2, & 3, which are c, e, & g."

Whoops! That should have been "...has notes 1, 3, & 5, which are c, e, & g." Sorry about that.

I have seen the lower case Roman numeral method. It's equally valid, but I prefer the consistency (to my mind) of using the upper case and adding "min" just as one adds "7" etc. I also prefer the consistency and accuracy of using "VIIb" rather "VII" if it is indeed a flatted VII. Although it's very rare, I have seen songs that use the actual VII chord (a B7 in the key of C, for example). I can understand not bothering with it in cases such as illustrated above where everyone knows what is being communicated.