Straights vs. Curlies
Comments: 3
Grumblings can be heard concerning the use of ‘smart’ quotes and other forms of correct typography on the web. Straights complain about the difficulty copying and pasting text, while Curlies rightly blame inferior software (can you tell I’m firmly in the Curlies camp?).
SmartyPants author John Gruber presents the case for curlies:
Proper typographic punctuation is 400-year-old news. That it’s considered exotic, or even non-standard, on today’s web is embarrassing.
He even provides a script that gets BBEdit to ASCIIfy any text containing characters that Straights may find troublesome.
•••
Posted to Computers • 2003.02.22 (Sat) • 16:56
Comments
Posted by Kris 2003.02.22, 19:30
Make sure you send appropriate content-type headers (utf-8), set the right META element accordingly and follow instructions on this page: http://www.movabletype.org/docs/mtmanual_troubleshooting.html#movable%20type%20encodes%20the%20characters%20in%20my%20language%20incorrectly
Combine it with Smartypants, and there you go; UTF-8 in, UTF-8 out. Input any character you like in the MT backend and it will show up correctly at the front, even Japanese characters, if your client software has the right language pack installed.
Posted by resonance 2003.02.23, 10:45
I gotta say, I’m not in the curlies camp. It’s not that I don’t think typography isn’t relevant to web design, it’s just that I don’t understand the complete arbitrariness used in assigning what of print type needs to carry over to electronic formats. While I respect, admire, and adhere to typographic convention when I do print work, I think that a more freeform approach to type on the web is, for me, one of the positive features of the medium.
I understand that HTML entities exist and I use them when I have to (ampersands and accents, for example), but to argue that not using them somehow constitutes “improper” design (as Mr. Gruber seems to imply)…that’s ludicrous. I’m glad people have beliefs, but that sort of fundamentalism rubs me the wrong way.
Yes, typography is, as Mr. Gruber states, a 400+ year-old tradition. There are many, many 400+ year-old traditions that quite frankly, I’m happy to see go. Traditions change (or perhaps its more precise to say that societies and cultures change). And to argue that they don’t or shouldn’t is just as bad, in my opinion, as telling me my grammar is incorrect because I start this sentence with a conjunction. Fifty years ago it was incorrect. Now it’s colloquial.
I teach literature at a university. I see many, many rules of English broken consistently enough that I can’t help but think, for example, that “don’t” will be spelled “dont” within ten years. The distinction between “it’s” and “its” will be lost within five. I don’t think this represents any generational degradation in the quality of their writing. Language has a way of evolving, of becoming relevant on its own terms from generation to generation. Rules and traditions give way to stylistic and rhetoric inclinations. I think aesthetic rules and traditions evolve similarly. I, for one, think that’s a marvelous and liberating phenomenon when there’s a degree of sense involved. I, for one, am glad that I don’t have to use “thee” anymore.
I’m sorry that Mr. Gruber thinks that the lack of “proper” typographic punctuation on the web is embarrassing, I really do. I admire Mr. Gruber’s site and enjoy most of his commentary. In fact, I’m rather surprised that he gets embarrassed when confronted with all this typographic impropriety. I never considered him the prudish sort.
I certainly don’t mind when people use curlies or em-dashes in their web copy…I think it’s rather quaint when they do! ;)
Posted by Jeff 2003.02.23, 23:19
To many designers “curlies” look good. As a fellow designer, I can understand that. It doesn’t bother me when people don’t use them, though. Good content is ultimately what’s most important to me.
I tried to install John’s Smarty Pants on my MT blog but it didn’t work. John really worked hard to problem-solve this one but to no avail. We still don’t know why it’s not working. Coding is an imperfect science! -g But I appreciate John’s attention and help.
Post a comment:
Send This Story to an Enemy
• • •
