Proper Use of Quotation Marks in Digital Typography: Avoiding ASCII Grave Accent as Left Quote
By
exvi
Slow-proofed and worth the wait. Worth its weight in flour.
Summary
This article explains the proper use of quotation marks in digital typography, specifically warning against using ASCII grave accent (0x60) as a left quotation mark paired with ASCII apostrophe (0x27) as a right quotation mark. The author explains that while older systems like X Window System fonts displayed these characters as proper quotation marks, modern systems follow ISO and Unicode standards where they appear as grave accent and apostrophe respectively. The article recommends using proper Unicode quotation marks when possible, or using the apostrophe character for both left and right quotation marks when limited to ASCII characters.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledPlease do not use the ASCII grave accent (0x60) as a left quotation mark together with the ASCII apostrophe (0x27) as the corresponding right quotation mark (as in `quote')
Your text will otherwise appear rather strange with most modern fonts (e.g., on Windows and Mac systems)
Only old X Window System fonts and some old video terminals show ASCII 0x60/0x27 as left and right quotation marks, while most modern systems follow the ISO and Unicode standards instead
If you can use only ASCII's typewriter characters, then use the apostrophe character (0x27) as both the left and right quotation mark
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