Typography is what (sometimes) matters! (3 tips for better looking texts)
Have you ever heard about typography? If not, well, simply said, it is a bunch of rules which are used for text formatting. It is not as silly and useless as it sometimes could seem. It has developed during centuries and it is a part of every honestly edited book (or letter, mail, any kind of message or post!). It’s main aim is improving of readability. Ok, I admit, I work as a copyeditor and e-book developer which means I am into it very much!
Just a few rules it is good to be aware of:
1) dashes:
- this is not a dash!
– this is called n-dash and it is used really as a dash (alt+0150; Unicode2013)!
— this is called m-dash and it is used really as a dash in English texts (alt+0151; Unicode2014); actually, it is considered to be more suitable for longer texts of a higher cultural value (poetry, novels, really tuned letters…)
2) quotation marks:
"these" are not quotation marks suitable for texts but for computer code;
“these” are genuine quotation marks suitable for every moment (alt+0147, alt+0148; Unicode201c, Unicode201d);
3) apostrophe:
don't, haven't, couldn't — these are not apostrophes!
don’t, haven’t, couldn’t — these are genuine apostrophes (alt+0146; Unicode2019)!
There are many other rules but these three are really essential. With them, any letter will look more professional and sophisticated.