PART II       FontSite Archives Main Page     The Rules of Typography are reprinted from the book “Digital Type Design Guide” by Sean Cavanaugh (Hayden Books).   NOTE: The first time this article was published we wrongly stated that typographic quotes or curly quotes cannot be achieved because of a limitation in web typography. Well as you may have noticed, we have in fact set all of the FontSite articles using curly quotes and true apostrophes. Thanks to a new version of CyberStudio, our HTML editing program, and a Robin Williams tip in the November ’97 issue of Image Club’s software catalog, we now have web typography that looks like print typography.

3. Use true quotation marks and apostrophes. Quotation marks and apostrophes you enter directly from your keyboard by typing ' and " (Shift + ') are not really quotation marks, but rather hash marks (or tick marks). It’s okay to use them to represent feet and inches (e.g., I have a 9'6" Walden surfboard), but using them as quotation marks sends the message, “I don’t really care how this stuff looks.” Like inserting two spaces between sentences and using hyphens as dashes (see Rules of Typography: Part I in the FontSite Archives), using tick marks instead of curly quotes (also called typographer’s quotation marks) is the calling card of a DTP amateur. True quotes and apostrophes should be used in place of tick marks whenever possible. Fortunately, most DTP applications and word processors made within the past few years give you the option of automatically substituting curly quotes when you type the ' and " characters. This feature is referred to as Smart Quotes. I use it in all my applications that offer it as an option (ClarisWorks, PageMaker, QuarkXPress, et al.). Typing the ' and " characters is much easier than typing Alt-0147 or Cmd-Shift-Bracket, for example. Punctuation Inside vs. Outside Quotation Marks There is some debate amongst the various style guides as to whether to place punctuation inside or outside quotation marks...and whether to use single or double quotes. The American standard is to place punctuation (commas, periods, etc.) inside the quotation marks. The British standard is to place them on the outside. The Brits generally use single quotes in place of double quotes too, but this can pose some minor unsightliness if the text you are quoting ends with a contraction. For example: See how that ‘t’ is stranded out there? The problem is further compounded by placing punctuation on the outside. The American method offers an improvement: It’s not a show-stopper as problems go, but the American system is a bit more clear. It poses fewer problems on average, but from a typographical standpoint, the rule here is: be consistent. If you like using single quotation marks in place of double quotation marks, make sure you don’t switch to double quotation marks in the middle of the document. Use a closed single quotation mark for apostrophes, such as can’t, Sean’s, or ’tis. It’s amazing the number of signs, brochures, direct mail pieces, advertisements and other “professional” documents that don’t follow this rule, using instead the typewriter tick marks. You create quotation marks with the following keystrokes: Character Mac Windows Option-] Alt-0145 Shift-Option-] Alt-0146 Option-[ Alt-0147 Shift-Option-[ Alt-0148 So what are those ' and " characters? It is okay to use these characters to represent feet and inches (1' = 12") or minutes and seconds of arc (60' = 360" = 1° of arc) but better substitutes are available. Using them requires the Symbol font, which is available on most Macintosh and Windows systems. First select the Symbol font, and then enter the following: Character Mac Windows (feet, minutes) Option-4 Alt-0162 (inches, seconds) Option-Comma Alt-0178 Compare: These marks are also known as primes. When using them (especially the standard upright ones that are available in any font), consider adding a bit of space between the number and the prime with your application’s kerning commands. If such commands are not an option (as is the case in many word processors), you’ll have to leave them unspaced. I wouldn’t recommend adding a whole space by pressing the Space Bar, as this will be too much. The primes available in the Symbol font don’t need extra spacing in most cases.