HTML Entities

This page is made to keep a list of my favourite HTML entities which I tend to forget.

An HTML entity is a piece of text (“string”) that begins with an ampersand (\&) and ends with a semicolon (;). Entities are frequently used to display reserved characters (which would otherwise be interpreted as HTML code), and invisible characters (like non-breaking spaces). You can also use them in place of other characters that are difficult to type with a standard keyboard.

MDN Glossary

The Unicode Character Table has HTML codes for more code points that I’d ever care for))

Characters

• & is an ampersand &
• … is an ellipsis …
• – and — are en-dash – and em-dash —
• ® is registered trademark sign ®
• © is copyright sign ©
• € and ¥ are € and ¥
• ∞ is infinity sign ∞
• ⊆ is set notation subset symbol ⊆
• ` is a backtick symbol `

Whitespace

Background reading:

• Micro-Typography: How To Space And Kern Punctuation Marks And Other Symbols

  For hundreds of years, we have been using white space in typography. Today, in 2020, how do we add spacing to punctuation marks and other symbols, and how do we adjust the space on the left and right side in an easy and consistent way? It is actually not as easy and quick as it should be.

• Space Yourself

  There’s more to spaces than the key you instinctively hit between words with one of your thumbs. Let’s find out what other space characters there are, what their heritage is, and how they can be useful today.

Useful characters:

•   is useful for year ranges: (2012 — 2016) vs (2012—2016)
•   is en space
•   is em space (larger than en space)
•   is punctuation space

— Oliver Frolovs, 2020