You may think that I exaggerate the importance of good typography. You may ask if I have ever heard a housewife say that she bought a new detergent because the advertisement was set in Caslon. No. But do you think an advertisement can sell if nobody can read it? As Mies van der Rohe said of architecture, "God is in the details." David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising
Special Characters In Typography
As you have already learned, there's a remarkable difference between typography and simply typing letters onto a page. One of the biggest differences is proper use of typographic characters — characters that print as well as those used for spacing.
Quotes and Related Characters
While the typewriter keyboard constrains us to using only the prime and double prime, our computers give us access to quotation marks, apostrophes and inch marks as well.
Quotation Marks
Quotation marks may be used in either double or single form. They are used to enclose the exact words of a speaker or writer. Usually, the opening marks are weighted to the bottom and the closing marks are weighted to the top, but this is not always the case; it is a decision made by the type designer.
In general practice in the U.S., double quotation marks are used for a standard quotation, and single quotation marks are used for a quote within a quote. If the inner quotation ends the sentence, then a thin space should be inserted between the inner and outer quotes. For example, Erin said, "The Gettysburg Address begins "Fourscore and seven years ago."" In the U.S., a period (.) or comma (,) always falls inside the quotes. Other punctuation falls inside or outside the quote, depending upon whether it is part of the quotation or not.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is used to indicate that a portion of the word is missing (as in the words don't or can't), or to indicate possession (Pat's shillelagh collection). When used in front of a year, such as '01, it must be manually inserted; smart quote routines will insert the single open quote instead of the apostrophe.
Inch and Foot Marks
These marks are used to denote inches or seconds and feet or minutes, respectively. While they are part of the standard character set under Windows, they must be accessed from Symbol, Universal or another Pi font on the Macintosh.
| Character Description | Character |
| Double Right Curly Quotation Mark | ” |
| Double Left Curly Quotation Mark | “ |
| Single Right Curly Quotation Mark | ’ |
| Single Left Curly Quotation Mark | ‘ |
Hyphens and Dashes
When the typewriter was used for correspondence, either a hyphen (-) or a double hyphen (--) would be used in all instances where hyphens and dashes came into play. With the availability of typographic dashes, it is important to know when each should be used.
Hyphen
A hyphen is used to tie words together. When a word is too long to fit on a line, a hyphen ties the letters on the first line with the balance of the word. It also ties compound words together such as re-create, long-lived or two-year-old. Most composition programs allow you to enter a discretionary hyphen, which creates a hyphen at that point in the word only if the word does not fit on a line. A discretionary hyphen placed in front of a word forces the word not to hyphenate. A non-breaking hyphen can also be inserted. A non-breaking hyphen causes the word in which it is placed to fall to the following line as a unit, rather than breaking at the hyphen. You may use non-breaking hyphens in a phone number such as 212-555-1234 to keep the phone number together as a unit.
En Dash
An en dash is used to replace the word to or through. It is used to separate words in a phrase, such as December 15–January 2. Spaces should not be used with an en dash, but a thin space is often desirable, to keep it from touching the characters on either side. The en dash is also used to represent the minus sign in mathematical expressions such as He calculated 25–3.
Em Dash
An em dash is used to separate word groups within a sentence. Type may be readable — or may be difficult to read — depending upon the typeface you select. They act as parentheses, but with more authority. No more than a single set of em dashes should be used in a sentence. Like the en dash, justifying spaces should not be used to set the dash apart from other characters.
| Character Description | Character |
| Hyphen | - |
| En Dash | – |
| Em Dash | — |
Special Characters
Multiplication Sign
The multiplication sign or mult is a specific character. It is a glyph of the standard character set under Windows, but must be accessed using a Pi font on the Macintosh (such as Symbol). Aside from its mathematical uses, it is also used in architecture (a 15' × 22' room) and to define lumber (a 4' × 8' sheet of plywood). An ex (x) should never be used in place of the mult.
Copyright Symbol
The copyright symbol © is used to designate a copyrighted work. The symbol may be used whether or not the work has been registered with the Copyright Office, because copyright is automatically conferred upon the creator of intellectual property, with some limitations. The copyright symbol is a standard character on both Macintosh (Option-g) and Windows (ANSI 0169) computers.
Registered Trademark Symbol
The registered trademark symbol ® may be used when a word, phrase or design, used to identify a company, has been registered with the state or with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Unregistered trademarks use the ™ symbol, which may be accessed as a special character or typed. The registered trademark symbol is a standard character on both Macintosh (Option-r) and Windows (ANSI 0174) computers.
| Multiplication Sign | × |
| Copyright Symbol | © |
| Registered Trademark Symbol | ® |
| Trademark Symbol | ™ |
Spacing Options
When using a typewriter, we had only two ways to insert a space -- we could press the spacebar or press the Tab key. This is also true of most word-processing programs. When composing pages typographically, we need more control over spacing, and page-layout programs give us that control. Not all of the options we mention are available in all page-layout programs, however, and those that are available may be accessed by different key combinations.
Non-breaking Space
The non-breaking space, like the non-breaking hyphen, is used to keep two words together. For example, you may want to ensure that St. Louis always appears as a unit, rather than falling on two lines. A non-breaking space is variable in width when type is justified to both margins.
Em Space
The em space is a fixed space the width of the point size. An em in 12-pt. type is 12 points wide; an em in 10-pt. type is 10 points wide.
En Space
The en space is a fixed space half the width of an em space
Thin Space
The thin space is a fixed space half the width of an en space.
Flex Space
The flex space is a fixed space that may be programmed to any specific width.
Fixed spaces are useful because, even when the type is justified to both margins, they will not alter their width. Paragraph indents should be inserted using the first-line indent function of the word-processing or page-layout program. When the are inserted in this manner, they can be easily changed, if desired.
Glossary
- ANSI
- American National Standards Institute
- Font
- All the glyphs in a given typeface.
- Glyph
- A single typographic character.
- Pi Font
- A font made up entirely of symbol characters.
Resources
- The University of Minnesota Duluth's directory on Web Design Standards, especially the sections about Semantics, Separation and Strucutre.
- The Trouble with EM 'n EN (and Other Shady Characters) from A List Apart Magazine.
- HTML 4.0 Entities from HTMLHelp.com