Typographic Etiquette

These tiny typographic details can make a big difference

Use Smart Quotes, Dummy

The "quotation marks" provided on your keyboard are stiff, lifeless, and dumb.
Smart is sexy. Smart quotes are sexy. See?

S m a rt q u o t e s

Dumb quotes

Thats swell! "That's swell!"

Quotation Marks Dont Measure Up

Quotation marks arent meant to be used for units of measurement.

Use Prime and Double Prime.

P r i m e & D o u b l e P r i m e Q u o tat i o n M a r k s

Shes 56

Shes 56

One Space After a Period. Not Two.

Theres already a period, a space, and a capital letter to signal the new sentence.
Isnt that enough for you? Besides, the extra spaces create unsightly gaps in
body copy.

+1 for Proper Math Symbols

xx>xxx

M at h S y m b o l s

2 2 = 6 2

2x2=6-2

Ligatures Bring Letters Together

Unlike twins, some letters pairings look weird unless theyre conjoined.
W i t h L i g at u r e s

W i t h o u t L i g at u r e s

find
find
afford afford
affinity affinity
affluenza affluenza
v 1.1 August 6, 2013

Char HTML Mac OS Unicode

‘ +] U+2018
’ ++] U+2019
“ ++[ U+201C
” ++] U+2019D
′ U+2032
″ U+2033
× U+00D7
− U+2212
÷ +/ U+00F7
fi fi ++5 U+FB01
fl fl ++6 U+FB02
ff ff U+FB00
ffi ffi U+FB03
ffl ffl U+FB04

n o t M at h S y m b o l s

The letter x Hyphen

How to type these !@fi things

Whats the best way to use

ligatures on theweb?
When should you avoid
justified type?
Learn this and more in the new book

Design for Hackers

Reverse-Engineering Beauty
by David Kadavy
ISBN: 978-1-119-99895-2
Available on

www.designforhackers.com